Uttar Pradesh minister Suresh Kumar Khanna today said police cannot be deployed everywhere and no government can ensure a crime-free society, remarks that could trigger a political controversy.
He made the statement hours after four women were allegedly gang-raped and a man was shot dead by a group of armed criminals on the Jewar-Bulandshahr highway.
"We will take strictest possible action in the incident that occurred on the highway.
"There cannot be a completely crime-free society... But the BJP government does not patronize criminals, like the previous governments did," he told media persons here.
The incident, which is a horrific reminder of last year's Bulandshahr gangrape, took place near Sabota village in Jewar around 1.40 am when the eight people were going to visit a relative undergoing treatment at a hospital in Bulandshahr in western Uttar Pradesh.
SSP, Gautam Budh Nagar, Love Kumar said a gang of five robbers targeted the vehicle after the driver stopped it near a roadside hut to fix a flat tyre.
The occupants were attacked and, along with an old man who was in the hut, taken to a nearby field. The women were misbehaved with and a man was shot dead when he resisted, he said.
The Yogi Adityanath government is facing flak over the deteriorating law and order situation in the state.
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