7 Times When Uttar Pradesh Was In News For All The Wrong Reasons!

When we hear of horrific murders, brutal rapes, journalists set ablaze, unusual deaths, jungle-raj, foreign junkets and policemen searching for a minister's buffaloes in quick succession, sadly we know which Indian state is being spoken about.

UP has forever been infamous for its lawlessness, riots, vote bank politics, all of which still prevail....

Deccan Chronicle

...but off late, the law and order situation in UP seems to have gone for a complete toss, with rising incidents of violence and crime nothing seems to be going right for the state.

Here are few recent incidents which prove that UP isn't too safe a place to be in:

- TV journalist tied to a bike and dragged in UP for landgrab expose

Even as the brutal murder of journalist Jagendra Singh is fresh in public memory, an attempt was made on the life of a TV journalist who had been reporting on a land usurpation case here on the night of June 13. Haidar Khan, stringer for a news channel and a resident of Sherpur Kalan, received information about a wanted robber being injured in an accident in another village, Bilhari. On arriving at the spot, however, Haidar was allegedly attacked by Arvind Prakash (50) and accomplices, who tied him up and dragged him behind motorcycles till he lost consciousness.

Left for dead by his attackers, Khan was taken to Puranpur Kotwali police station by unknown individuals, from where he was shifted to government hospital, Pilibhit, for treatment.

- RTI activist hacked to death 

Guru Prasad, an RTI activist was on Saturday hacked to death by henchmen of the village head in Bahraich. The activist was rushed to a medical facility by his friends and family members but he could not be saved. Guru Prasad had sought information on some development work initiated by village head Triloki Nath. Incensed at this, the village head with some of his supporters barged into his house and attacked him with pickaxes, sticks and some other sharp-edged weapons. The village head was arrested after a police complaint was filed.

- 17-year old set ablaze for plucking mangoes from her neighbour's orchard

Plucking mangoes proved fatal for a 17-year-old girl, who was set on fire after being brutally assaulted allegedly by her neighbour in Kheshaan village in Fatehpur district. An FIR against four persons was lodged with the Ghazipur police on the basis of a complaint given by victim's parents. The police arrested two persons in this regard.

- Social-media journalist burnt alive for Facebook post against UP Minister

In a shocking incident, a Shahjahanpur based journalist Jagendra Singh succumbed to injuries after he was set ablaze alive for expressing his views against Samajwadi Party MLA Rammurti and exposing how he illegally acquired property worth crores on a Facebook post:

The Uttar Pradesh government suspended five policemen suspected to be involved in the murder. An FIR was also lodged against the minister as well.

- An alleged exorcist sacrificed his niece, took out her organs to perform exorcism

An alleged exorcist sacrificed his eighteen-month-old niece and took out her organs to perform exorcism in Motipur area in Uttar Pradesh. Neetu alias Gudiya was kidnapped by her uncle Rakesh Kumar on Friday while she was asleep and killed after he took her outside the village. Later he dissected the body and took out the heart and kidney. The accused was arrested along with his lover Phulau, his suspected accomplice.

- 35-year old man arrested for allegedly killing elderly parents

A 35-year-old man was arrested on 27th May for allegedly killing his parents in connivance with his relatives in Shamli district,UP. As per the complaint filed by the victims' daughter, Ratiram (80) and Sona (75) were strangled to death in their sleep by Rameshwar with the help of his father-in-law and brother-in-law in Datheda village on Tuesday night after the couple refused to sell a piece of land as demanded by the accused. A case under relevant sections of IPC was registered against the trio.

- The Badaun rape case

Deccan Chronicle

Two teenagers were allegedly gangraped and murdered on the intervening night of May 27-28, 2014 by five people, including two policemen and three brothers -- Pappu Yadav, Urvesh Yadav, Awadhesh Yadav -- in Katra's Saadatganj village, Badaun district. Following morning the girls were found hanging from a mango tree.

The case not only received national coverage but also caught the attention of the international media. Twitter influencers threw their hat into the ring. A special investigation team was set up to probe the matter. Even the UP CM Akhilesh Yadav went all out to assure the country he'd take stern action against the culprits.

Even after a year justice has not been delivered and the next hearing in the case is still due on 28th June, 2015.

- UP Ministers' Foreign Junkets 

In December 2013, more than 20 party MLAs travelled to Turkey, Greece, UK, UAE and Netherlands at the government's expense. The trip occurred when a large number of Muzaffarnagar riot victims were still suffering in the ill-equipped refugee camps.

These are few of the many incidents from the recent past that add to the notoriety of India's most populous state- Uttar Pradesh on - a daily basis.