Offenders being punished within 6 months of their crime, claims Adityanath

Asserting that Uttar Pradesh has become the first state to punish offenders within six months of the crime committed by them, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday said his government has taken several measures to prevent crime against women and children.

"A number of measures have been taken to stop crime in UP in the last two years. Better work has been done for stopping crime against women and girls and the state has become the first in punishing the criminals within six months," the chief minister said.

Pointing out that the government has decided to to set up 218 fast track courts in the state to deal with the crime against women and children, Adityanath said the state is also opening a cyber police station and forensic centre in each of its ranges to deal with cyber crime.

The government is also going to set up a forensic university in the state, he said after inaugurating a workshop at the state police headquarters on probe into offences against women and children and cyber offences.

Emphasising upon the doctrine of the rule of law, the chief minister said the good governance can be based only upon it.

"If there is no rule of law, the concept of good governance is false. So we all have to focus on it. If there is the fear of law in minds of criminals, crime will naturally be reduced," he said.

"Two years ago, I had formed a committee to find out if crimes against women and children were being investigated in a time-bound manner. I came to know that there is a lack of coordination at the district level and culprits, despite being arrested and chargesheeted in time, cases against them remain pending for years," he said.

"If the prosecution is done on time, the accused may be punished soon. There should be better synergy between the investigation and prosecution in getting the convicts punished. The law will also have to be stricter if crime increases, the chief minister said.

Aditynath also pointed out that inter-departmental coordination can also help in speedy and effective action against culprits.

The chief minister said district magistrates and district judges should prioritise POCSO cases for trial for swift punishments of criminals because the delay in their trials leads to witnesses turning hostile and victims getting frustrated.

Stressing that immediate action and punishment "convey a positive message" at a large scale, Adityanath said "as long as there is no fear in the mind of criminals, they will not respect law."

"Neither an innocent should be punished nor a criminal should be spared. Therefore, file the chargsheet timely. It has a special role in establishing good governance," he said.

On the occasion, Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police O P Singh said the accused under POCSO cases have been punished in 28 days in Auraiya and in 81 days in Jhansi.