On Tuesday, the 15th, the chief minister of the land of blue hills and red rivers, Assam, Himanta Biswa Sharma, stated in the state assembly that measures taken by the police have led to a drop in crime rates in the state.
According to him, actions like firing on the criminals when they allegedly attempt to break out of custody have proven to be helpful. Furthermore, he added that strict action is also taken against the police if and when they put behind the limits of the law.
Sarma made this remark while replying to a debate on motion of thanks on governor Jagdish Mukhi’s address. He further went on to say that the state has witnessed a drop of as much as 30 percent considering the number of cases registered in January and February of last year set side by side to the number of cases registered during the same time period this year.
According to the minister, in January 2021, 8661 cases were reported to police stations across the state, but that number dropped to 7706 in January 2022. Similarly, in February 2022, there were 5425 cases registered, compared to 8941 in February 2021.
After the opposition claimed that the police were engaging in “fake police encounters since the beginning of his tenure in May of 2021, Himanta fixated on the fact that no one supports encounters and that police have to*
work within the law. Further he added by asking that if by working with the law, a rapist is shot on his leg while trying to flee, with whom should our condolences be with, a criminal or with the victim accusing the opposition of siding with “suspects rather than victims.
Another point he made was that police action is not directed at alleged criminals from any particular religious community, and he asked opposition MLAs to get their facts straight on police shootings or similar actions in order to learn the religious affiliation of suspects who were killed or injured.
He said that there are many tribals and Hindus who were killed or injured. But it is only the Muslim MLAs who are claiming that their community is being targeted. He reiterated the fact that the government is very diligent and believes in taking instantaneous action if the police officials are ever at fault.
He urged the people of Assam to have faith in their government and the police rather than in some criminals. Since the beginning of the tenure of this Sarma led government, a total of 33 individuals have been killed and around 89 have been injured by police action.
Allegedly, all of these deaths occur when the suspects were trying to flee the remand of while they attacked a policemen He even stated that his government had performed admirably in the nine months since he took office, and that Assam was on its way to becoming a “digital state.”
He claimed that the use of technology in government work has resulted in easier and faster completion of tasks for ordinary citizens. Some of the highlights of the current government, he said, include water supply connections to 17 lakh households in the last nine months and Assam Power Distribution Company Ltd making an operating profit of Rs 282 crore this fiscal.
Adding to this he said that one of the main agendas of the government is procurement of more paddy from the state farmers to ensure that they, the framers get the benefits of MSP (Minimum Support Price).
Published By : Ankit Singh
Edited By : Khushi Thakur
