Never promised zero crime, says UP minister day after highway gangrape

Uttar Pradesh minister Suresh Kumar Khanna on Thursday said police cannot be deployed everywhere and no government can ensure a crime-free society, remarks that could trigger a political controversy.

Khanna, the Urban Development minister in Yogi Adityanath government, made the statement hours after four women were allegedly gangraped and a man was shot dead by a group of armed criminals on the Jewar-Bulandshahr highway.

"It is such a big state, we never promised zero crime. But we will take strictest possible action in the incident that occurred on the highway.

"There cannot be a completely crime-free society... But the BJP government does not patronize criminals, like the previous governments did," he told media persons here.

The incident, which is a horrific reminder of last year's Bulandshahr gangrape, took place near Sabota village in Jewar around 1.40 am when the eight people were going to visit a relative undergoing treatment at a hospital in Bulandshahr in western Uttar Pradesh.

SSP, Gautam Budh Nagar, Love Kumar said a gang of five robbers targeted the vehicle after the driver stopped it near a roadside hut to fix a flat tyre.

The occupants were attacked and, along with an old man who was in the hut, taken to a nearby field. The women were misbehaved with and a man was shot dead when he resisted, he said.

The Yogi Adityanath government is facing flak over the deteriorating law and order situation in the state.