There is that thing that BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya said last week about Yogi Adityanath’s Uttar Pradesh. He was asked to comment about the Hathras rape case and fitting punishment when, after a banality or two, he quipped in an even tone, “The cars, they are in the habit of over-turning in this part of the world.” In July this year, gangster Vikas Dubey was arrested by UP police and was being ferried someplace when one of the police cars in a convoy of three hit a divider and overturned. In the chaos and confusion that ensued, Dubey snatched a pistol --- according to police --- and tried to flee. The cops, of course, fired back. Dubey died and all is silence.
Passing the buck
Days before Dubey was killed, his aide Kartikeya was also killed in “retaliatory” police firing. Kartikeya was being brought to Kanpur on transit remand when the police vehicle got a flat tyre, Kartikeya snatched the pistol of a policeman and tried to flee. Rogue car. Treacherous tyre. Bad road? Who can say? Only last week, UP police had arrested another wanted gangster, Feroz Ali, in Mumbai. And on the way back to Lucknow with him when there was an accident and this car too overturned, killing Feroze on the spot. It was also reported that the police blamed a cow “appearing out of nowhere” for the mishap, while others blamed the driver who was napping at the wheel. Errant driver. Entitled cow.
Road Rage
Exactly a year ago, the Unnao girl who had accused BJP MLA Kuldeep Sengar and his driver of raping her multiple times met with a car accident. A truck with blackened number plates rammed into the vehicle headed from Lucknow to Rae Bareli. Two of her family members died in the accident and she was seriously injured. Nothing happened to the police assigned to protect her as they were not in the car at all. “No space in the car,” was the explanation proffered. Bad car. Bad. Bad. Bad. In August this year, the UP government released figures to show that crime in the state was on a tight leash — 2,032 murders in January-July from 2,204 last year; rapes down to 1,216. In the last three years there have been 6,000-plus “encounters”. Of course, at last check, road accidents in UP resulted in 23,000 deaths in a year. Bad vehicles. In the Hathras tragedy there is no car to pass the buck onto, only an overturned law and order system and reports about a severed tongue.
