Bhandari claims crime rate has dropped during President's rule

Stung by the criticism of the law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh and demands for the recall of Governor Romesh Bhandari, the state administration has circulated an exhaustive note to MPs from the state and other public representatives, saying the crime rate has come down in the state during President's rule.

The 28-page note Law and order and developmental activities in UP under President's rule quotes crime figures since 1992 in an attempt to establish that criminal activities have come down.

The note said the crime rate during the period of April 1996 to February 1997 had gone down by 13.73 per cent as compared to the preceding year.

The note, however, has drawn criticism from several Bharatiya Janata Party MPs who said the facts and figures provided in the note did not match the increasing incidence of criminal activities in the state.

It claimed that 1996 has passed off riot-free in UP. Neither was there any loss of life nor any loss to public property due to communal violence which had been taking place quite frequently over the past few years.

According to the note, the UP police achieved this feat in a very demanding situation. The Lok Sabha and assembly elections, by-elections, panchayat election, local bodies elections, all passed off peacefully. Besides, religious events such as Shiv Ratri, Sawan Mela in Varanasi, Janmashtami in Mathura, Moharram in all nooks and corners of the state and Magh Mela in Allahabad were observed in a perfectly harmonious atmosphere.

It said this was achieved despite the fact that UP ranks 21st amongst all states in police population ratio, which is 10.1 per 10,000 population. In simple terms, each single policeman has the responsibility of safeguarding life and property of about 1,000 people, which they did wonderfully, as is vindicated by statistics available in this regard.

A total of 14 incidents of communal tension had occurred during 1996, but the note claimed that due to effective steps taken by the administration, an atmosphere of peace was maintained and no riots took place.

'Looking at these facts, it was a matter of great satisfaction that no riot occurred in any part of the state in 1996 nor any person had been killed in any communal violence. Only 14 incidents of communal tension took place which caused no loss of life or property,' the note said.