The attack that led to Ghaziabad-based journalist Vikram Joshi, being shot at near his home, has yet again exposed all claims of Uttar Pradesh getting safer for ordinary citizens. Father of two young daughters, Joshi (34) has died in hospital, hours after he was shot in front of his children on Monday night.
The tragedy has also fuelled a political reaction, with the Congress leadership highlighting the deteriorating law and order status of Uttar Pradesh under the Adityanath-led Bharatiya Janata Party government.
“They promised Ramrajya, they delivered Gundaraj,” tweeted Rahul Gandhi
अपनी भांजी के साथ छेड़छाड़ का विरोध करने पर पत्रकार विक्रम जोशी की हत्या कर दी गयी। शोकग्रस्त परिवार को मेरी सांत्वना।
वादा था राम राज का, दे दिया गुंडाराज।
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) July 22, 2020
Stronger words have come from Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surejwala, who has said that the Prime Minister is a member of Parliament from UP, and that the state’s CM came to power over Ramrajya. That is a distant promise, said RS Surjwala.
“Adityanath Ji if only you had daughters, and a family. If only you had felt the pain of your nieces being harassed. Only then you would understand the pain of losing a family member,” he minced no words at a press conference held on Wednesday.
“Is this the “Ram Rajya”, promised by which the BJP sat on the throne of power?
This is the “Gundaraja” in public. Neither journalists safe nor law keepers in UP. Then what hope does the common man have for justice? Uttar Pradesh has now become a crime state.”
क्या ये वो “राम राज्य” है, जिसका वादा कर भाजपाई सत्ता के सिंहासन पर बैठे थे?
ये सरेआम “गुंडाराज” है।
यू.पी में न पत्रकार सुरक्षित और न क़ानून के रखवाले। फिर आम आदमी को न्याय की क्या उम्मीद?
उत्तरप्रदेश अब अपराध प्रदेश बन गया है। https://t.co/njaRlt49Jz
— Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) July 22, 2020
There was no political response from Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath, who has now announced a ‘compensation’ of Rs 10 lakh for Joshi’s bereaved family, as reported by Zee news.
After the journalist was shot, the UP police have arrested nine people so far, and identified them as: Vijay, Mohit, Dalveer, Aakash, Yogendra, Abhishek Mota, Abhishek, Shakir and the main accused, Ravi.
एसएसपी गा0बाद द्वारा बड़ी कार्रवाई-श्री विक्रम जोशी (पत्रकार-जन सागर टुडे) पर जानलेवा हमले के आरोप में 972/20 अंतर्गत धारा ipc 307, 34,506 दर्ज कर 9 अभियुक्त गिरफ्तार,व चौकी इंचार्ज SI राघवेंद्र को तत्काल निलंबित कर दिया गया है-विभागीय कार्रवाई प्रचलित कर सीओ प्रथम को जांच दी। https://t.co/26OxPfZMds pic.twitter.com/pCNfb02U5a
— GHAZIABAD POLICE (@ghaziabadpolice) July 21, 2020
उक्त सम्बन्ध में #SSP_GZB की वीडियो बाईट। https://t.co/noHodNXx9p pic.twitter.com/tcnSTPq5m3
— GHAZIABAD POLICE (@ghaziabadpolice) July 21, 2020
However as soon as the names of the accused were revealed by the UP police, certain elements, including Right Wing affiliated social media ‘influencers’, began to make sure the name of one of the 10 accused, who is a Muslim was highlighted in the public domain. This of course is yet another step to communalise a crime and change the narrative.
The murder and events that led to it, are in fact reflective of the law and order prepardness of Uttar Pradesh administration. A member of murdered journalist Vikram Joshi’s family too has been shown demanding that the Muslim acused be arrested. Uttar Pradesh police had already arrested the accused and others hours before this statement came.
Joshi, a journalist with a local paper who was riding his two-wheeler while returning from a relative’s place at night with his two young daughters, was waylaid, beaten up, and shot at by a group of criminals. The attack was recorded on CCTV. Horrific visuals later released, showed the young children instinctively running away to safety when the two wheeler fell, and her father was attacked. Joshi’s elder daughter returned to see that her father had been fatally wounded. The child tried to raise an alarm, but no one came to her aid immediately.
The journalist succumbed to injuries, early on Wednesday morning, at a local hospital. According to news reports, his family members had alleged that the Uttar Pradesh police did not investigate the initial complaint that the journalist had filed alleging that his niece was being harassed. According to a report in the Indian Express, the journalist was attacked just four days after he filed the complaint.
The UP Police, according to IE, said Joshi, who works with Jan Sagar Today, was shot in the Pratap Vihar area of Ghaziabad, he was rushed to Yashoda Hospital in a critical condition, and later succumbed to the injuries. The news report states that according to Joshi’s family the UP Police did not not investigate the initial complaint. “They claimed a police team only enquired about the location of the accused but they were not found. The family further alleged that on July 17, a letter had been sent via post to the SSP office demanding action but nothing was done,” stated IE.
However, the police maintained that they filed a molestation complaint on June 16, and registered an FIR the same day. The IE added that Ghaziabad SSP Kalanidhi Naithani has “suspended booth incharge of Vijay Nagar police station SI Raghvendra for alleged dereliction of duty, and an enquiry has been set up under a DSP-rank officer to ascertain the delay in action.”
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi, who had earlier clashed with the UP government over issues impacting the citizens said, “Ghaziabad is in NCR. If the law and order here is such, one can guess how it must be in the entire state. One journalist was shot because he complained against the eve teasing of his niece. How can a common man be safe in this ‘jungle raj’.”
गाजियाबाद NCR में है। यहां कानून व्यवस्था का ये आलम है तो आप पूरे यूपी में कानून व्यवस्था के हाल का अंदाजा लगा लीजिए।
एक पत्रकार को इसलिए गोली मार दी गई क्योंकि उन्होंने भांजी के साथ छेड़छाड़ की तहरीर पुलिस में दी थी।
इस जंगलराज में कोई भी आमजन खुद को कैसे सुरक्षित महसूस करेगा?
— Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) July 21, 2020
The IE quoted the Dr Rakesh Mishra, CO 1st, Ghaziabad saying, “We are very strict when it comes to crimes against women. The family approached them with a case of molestation. The accused had also filed a counter FIR, alleging they were assaulted by Vikram’s relatives. But the policeman should have acted swiftly since it was a crime against a woman.”
According to an IE, Joshi had been attacked by Ravi, the main accused, and his associates as they were “angered over a police complaint” filed against them by Joshi. Apparently Ravi and a few of his associates had also been arrested under preventive detention in connection with the complaint filed by the family in March 2019, reported IE. They were out on bail.
The family later told the media that they had been facing harassment and were being abused by the accused even recently. “On the night of July 15, Ravi, Abhishek and a few others were outside our house. They hurled abuses… In 2019, during Holi, they had come to the house to create problems…,” his sister was quoted by IE. According to police the “main accused, Ravi, also a resident of Pratap Vihar, confessed to us that he orchestrated the attack and carried it out with his accomplices.”
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