UP first in punishing offenders within six months of their crime: CM Yogi

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath lauded the work done by the police in checking crime against women and children and claimed that Uttar Pradesh topped in terms of punishing offenders.

“Better work has been done for stopping crime against women and girls. Uttar Pradesh has come the first state to punishing offenders within six months of the crime committed by them,” the chief minister said after inaugurating a workshop on ‘Cyber crime and women and child crime investigation’ at Police headquarters in Gomti Nagar on Friday.

The chief minister said that the government had initiated the process of setting up 218 fast track courts across the state for speedy trial of crimes against women and children.

“Besides, a cyber station and forensic centre are being opened in every range to deal with cyber crimes. Not only this, a forensic university run by UP government will also be established,” Yogi Adityanath said.

The chief minister said that such workshops would definitely help in curbing cyber crimes, and crimes against children and girls.

“People are expressing concern over crime related to women all over the country. There are concerns among general public about cyber crimes too. A two-day workshop in the country’s largest state will prove beneficial on this serious issue,” he said.

The chief minister further said, “If there is no rule of law, then the concept of good governance in itself is false. So we all have to focus on it. If there is a fear of law in the minds of criminals then naturally occurrence of crimes will reduce.”

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

“Two years ago, I had formed a committee to find out whether crimes against women and children were being probed in a time-bound manner. But it surfaced that there was lack of coordination at district level. While accused were getting arrested and charge-sheeted on time, cases were pending for years. If prosecution is done on time, the accused may be punished soon. Hence there should be better synergy between probe and prosecution in getting accused punished,” he said, adding that the law would also have to be stricter if crime increased.

Yogi further said, “District magistrates and district judges should decide the priority of POCSO cases so that criminals can be punished in time. Due to delay in cases, witnesses turn hostile and even victims get frustrated. Immediate action and punishment conveys a positive message.”

In his address, Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Awasthi said that monitoring was being done continuously for prosecution.

“Besides, POCSO cases are being heard continuously. With an aim to implement e-system, tab-laptops are being provided,” he said.

DGP OP Singh said that POCSO cases had been disposed of in 13 districts and the accused had been handed out punishment under POCSO Act in 28 days in Auraiya and 81 days in Jhansi.

Earlier, ADG (Prosecution) Ashutosh Pandey welcomed the guests in the two-day workshop.