Date:12/06/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/06/12/stories/2008061257371200.htm

National

Mayawati blames police for attack

Special Correspondent

“Attack could have been averted”
Condemns “auction” of police stations

LUCKNOW: After sacking Minister of State for Fisheries, Jamuna Prasad Nishad, and later ordering his arrest for his alleged involvement in the Maharajganj police station incident, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Wednesday held the police responsible for the attack on the station. A constable was killed in the violence.

Apart from ordering the dismissal of the station in-charge for sweeping the incident under the carpet, she directed the authorities to take similar action against the medical officer.

The incident was the fallout of the rape of a girl. While the woman medical officer gave a clean chit to the accused, the medical board, constituted at the behest of Ms. Mayawati, confirmed rape.

Presiding over a law and order review meeting at the Tilak Hall here, the Chief Minister made no secret of her displeasure at the style of functioning of the police officers and the force.

Referring to the Maharajganj incident, she said had the police listened to the pleas of the aggrieved party and taken prompt action against the accused, the incident could have been averted. She said the refusal of the police to register FIRs and the oft-repeated practice of converting serious cases into ordinary ones caused resentment among the public.

“Auction” of police stations, a practice which has become an integral part of policing, was condemned by the Chief Minister. She directed the zonal IGs, DIGs, SSPs and SPs to ensure that the stations were not divided into categories for auctioning them. Under no circumstances should corruption be allowed to flourish at the station level.

In her address, the Chief Minister touched on grey areas that had led to the erosion of people’s faith in the police. Talking about the police-criminal nexus, she said many crimes were the result of this. In this context, the Chief Minister referred to the abduction of children in and around Ghaziabad recently. She directed the officers to submit a report.

She also mentioned the arrest of two minors under the Goonda Act in Farrukhabad district. Though the Farrukhabad SP was let off with a warning he was cautioned that a repeat of such incidents would entail strict action.