UP govt has failed to control crime: Mayawati

Citing the Agra case in which a girl was burnt alive, BSP leader Mayawati Friday lashed out at the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh for its failure to fight crime, particularly that against women.

"It is a matter of grave concern that one girl is set on fire in Agra while another is subjected to gang rape, she said referring to two recent cases in the same district.

These incidents prove that hardened criminals are moving about freely in Uttar Pradesh," the Bahujan Samaj Party leader said in a statement.

The 15-year-old Dalit girl died Thursday at a Delhi hospital after being set on fire by two youths, who are yet to be traced.

Mayawati charged that the recent incidents and the state government's statements in the assembly showed that checking crime was not a priority for it.

"What to say about the honour of women, even their security is not being taken seriously," she alleged.

She said these incidents of crime against women soon after the Bulandshahr violence, in which a police inspector and a youth were killed by a mob protesting over alleged cow slaughter, had forced people to think there is no police or government worth its name in UP.

"The failure to nab the killers of the police officer in Bulandshahr even three weeks after the incident goes to prove the failure of the BJP government on the law and order front," she added.