A senior BJP leader has warned the women of Uttar Pradesh not to visit police stations after sunset.
“Although a woman officer and a (woman) sub-inspector sit (at police stations), you should never go to a police station after 5pm, after it becomes dark,” Baby Rani Maurya, BJP national vice-president and former Uttarakhand governor, said on Friday. “If necessary, you can go the next morning with your brother, husband or father.”
Maurya, an Agra-based Dalit politician whose star seems to be rising in state politics, did not mention any incidents. But in July, a minor gang-rape complainant was allegedly slapped and kicked by two policewomen inside a police station in Saharanpur, prompting her to cry out she would “never go to a police station again in this life”.
Uttar Pradesh police have repeatedly been accused of ill-treating women.
The state police have faced allegations of refusing to register women’s complaints and trying to protect men accused of sex crimes.
Women cannot be called to a police station after sunset. If unavoidable, women police personnel will have to be present or the police must be able to justify before a court the summons.
Women can go to a police station anytime to file a complaint. But if it is after sundown and a woman fears for her safety, the police are expected to go to her place and record the complaint.
“You (women) must write to the district magistrate, the chief minister and the Prime Minister if you face problems. The government has done a lot of work for women and their situation has improved,” Maurya said.
Her comments came at a BJP event at the Valmiki (Dalit) Basti in Varanasi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency.
A senior BJP leader said Maurya’s comments seemed aimed at proving her credentials as an honest politician who wouldn’t spare even her own party’s government in matters of the public good.
Also, Maurya seemed to be trying to deflect blame for the poor governance to the lower rungs, as suggested by her next comment.
“Government officers mislead us (politicians). A farmer called me for fertilisers, and I asked officers to look after the matter,” she said.
“An officer assured me the farmer would get fertilisers, but later refused to give them to the farmer. This kind of mischief is being played at the lower levels (of officialdom).”
There’s speculation within the BJP that Maurya might be given a senior post in the state government if the party wins the Assembly elections, due in March.
“She is a woman and a Dalit. She suits the party in Uttar Pradesh. It was with this plan that she was asked last month to resign as governor and brought back to active politics in Uttar Pradesh,” the senior BJP leader, who didn’t want to be named, said.
He said Maurya’s comments might help the party politically, for voters appreciate self-criticism.
“But what she said in Varanasi also reflects poorly on law and order in the state and highlights the high-handedness of officials under Yogi Adityanath’s rule.”
