Crime in the capital

Six serious crimes have rocked Lucknow in the last two weeks, apart from routine incidents.

Six serious crimes have rocked Lucknow in the last two weeks, apart from routine incidents. What was more shocking, however, was that most of these cases were because of police negligence or brutality. The situation even led to an intervention by Chief Minister Mayawati.

What forced Mayawati to act were two incidents that took place in the posh Hazratganj area of the city. First, on May 26, the police thrashed two boys who tried to stop some men from teasing their sisters outside a restaurant. Then on May 27, two boys stalked a girl, again in Hazratganj, and finally hit her on the head with an iron rod. The girl, a college student who also works at a call centre, fell unconscious.

The CM instructed the police top brass to take even the smallest incident seriously. She also asked the department to crack down on negligent cops or those involved in crimes. “Send them to jail if necessary,” she said. Besides, she instructed the police to be “humane” while dealing with the public. Before asking them to get back to work, she issued a stern warning: “There should be no repetition of Hazratganj.”

But on the next day, May 28, a BCom student was molested by her fellow students on the campus of the Lucknow University. Eventually, six policemen were suspended. The latest incident prompted a harassed SSP (city) Akhil Kumar to wonder, “Why do such activities take place only in Hazratganj?”

He couldn’t have been more wrong. On May 29, ex-BJP MP Sriram Rawat was gunned down by unidentified assailants around 11 in the morning. Rawat was the BJP candidate from Malihabad assembly seat in the last assembly elections. Clearly, these incidents weren’t restricted to Hazratganj.

Three days later, on June 2, three gunmen attacked BSP corporator Musabbir Ali alias Mansub and his aide Sharif. According to eyewitnesses, the assailants first fired at Sharif and when he collapsed, they chased Mansub and shot him too. The incident took place around 10:45 a.m. near a police post that was less than 150 metres away from the crime scene.

What concerns the common man is that the police haven’t been able to solve most of these cases. On May 29, a woman was murdered at her home in Aliganj and the police haven’t come anywhere close to tracking the accused.

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ADG Law and Order, Brij Lal, refused to explain why the police had failed to solve the cases. Lucknow SSP Akhil Kumar ruled out the notion that crime in the city had gone up. “More cases are being registered now but the frequency of serious crimes like murder has come down drastically.” He said investigations take their time and “we do not want to use unnecessary pressure because that compels the officer to nab the wrong person”.

On police misbehaviour, he said, “In the last six months, over 150 policemen have been given remote postings, about 200 have been suspended and action is awaited against 50 others.”