Highway crimes in UP

Two incidents in less than a year on the same stretch along the Jewar-Bulandshahr highway, near the Yamuna Expressway have recast the spotlight on the vulnerability of women travelling by road. The latest incident involves the murder of a man and gang-rape of four women in the nearby fields using the same modus operandi of waylaying that was detected in an earlier incident in July 2016. Back then and now, once the car stopped because of a punctured tyre, the women were dragged out and violated in the deserted stretch.

In July, the victims were a mother and daughter, and this time, the deceased’s wife, sister, mother-in-law and his driver’s wife. In both cases the miscreants deliberately put sharp objects on the road to damage the tyres. In the latest assault, the highway robbers also took away Rs 50,000 in cash and valuables from the victims. Since they were armed, the victims had no choice but to give in. The man who was shot dead had tried to resist. He was left bleeding to die. Uttar Pradesh’s declining law-and-order is a matter of serious concern.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau’s 2014 data, the state with the longest road network among all the other states, witnessed maximum number of highway crimes, which was 80 per cent of the 84,000 such cases across the country. If the police fail to nab the culprits, it will only serve to embolden the thugs.