Uproar in Uttar Pradesh Assembly over crime against women, communal violence

LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh Assembly today witnessed uproarious scenes on the issue of rising cases of crime against women and communal violence in the state, with opposition BSP and BJP staging separate walkouts during Question Hour.

As soon as the Question Hour began, agitated BSP members voiced serious concern over rising crime against women and accused the Samajwadi Party government of failing to check such incidents.

Leader of the Opposition Swami Prasad Maurya (BSP) said Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav had accepted that there were 736 incidents of rapes between January and March, and described as insufficient the initiatives taken by the government to check crime against women.

Alleging that the SP government was not sensitive towards such serious issue, Maurya, along with BSP members, walked out of the House expressing dissatisfaction over Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mohd Azam Khan's reply that besides start of women helpline 1090, the state government had constituted a committee of three senior women officers to promptly act on cases related to women.

Khan also said that in police training institutes issues related to gender sensitivity have been included.

In the prevailing din, BJP member Satish Mahana too voiced concern over crime against women and also raised the issue of communal tension in the state.

Responding to his concern, Khan said 15 incidents of communal tension were witnessed in the state between April 13 and April 24.

Mahana, however, disputed the figures, saying that on December 9, the government had said there were 13 communal incidents while in February it had accepted that there were four communal incidents.

"The government should come prepared in the House as the figures it is giving is contradictory," Mahana said, staging a walkout along with other BJP members.