Even God cannot prevent rape, says UP governor

After Samajwadi Party (SP) supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav’s recent controversial remark that Uttar Pradesh had the fewest instances of rape compared to its 21 crore population, acting governor Aziz Qureshi on Monday joined the race to defend the state government.

Even before he could bid the Raj Bhavan goodbye and make way for new Governor Ram Naik, who will take oath on Tuesday, Qureshi tried to come to the defence of the state government, which has been heavily criticised for the rising number of sexual violence cases under it.

“Even if God descends on UP, he can not prevent rapes...It is not proper to always criticise the government,” the acting governor said in response to a question on a recent case of gang-rape and murder on the outskirts of Lucknow. Qureshi went on to say that even the best of efforts would go in vain while trying to prevent rapes.

“Rapes will occur even if the police force of the entire world is deployed in Uttar Pradesh,” he remarked.

He added, however, that the state government was doing its best to check crimes against the women. Mulayam, in an apparent defence of his son and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, had recently said: “Uttar Pradesh has a population of 21 crore...considering the huge population, the number of rape cases is lowest.”

Qureshi had last been in the news when he was given additional charge of the state after B L Joshi resigned from governorship last month.

He had recently cleared a controversial bill that granted minority status to Maulana Mohammed Ali Jauhar University at Rampur, the brainchild of powerful UP minister and senior SP leader Azam Khan.

The acting governor had come under attack for holding “janata darbars” (public interaction) and accepting applications from common people. Qureshi will relinquish charge on Tuesday morning.