Video Editor: Kriti Saxena
The elections in Maharashtra have been announced while the law and order has completely collapsed. Is it an overreach to say that?
In just the past six months, a former cabinet minister has been killed on a road, shots have been fired at the house of the biggest Bollywood star, a prime accused in a sexual assault case was encountered while the more privileged accused in the case remained absconding for two months.
NCP leader and former cabinet minister Baba Siddiqui was shot dead by three gunmen on a busy road in Bandra on Dusshera amid Y security presence. Several accused are linked to gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, who was also responsible for the gunshots fired at Salma Khan's house in April this year.
How can one gangster sitting in a Gujarat jail execute two big attacks in Mumbai within months of each other?
At least three had direct links with Lawrence Bishnoi and some of them were reportedly hired to kill Siddique while they were lodged in various jails for different crimes, including murder.
How does this reflect on the central and the state governments and intelligence agencies? Is one man sitting in jail so difficult to control for India's police and intelligence agencies?
Baba SIddique is the latest instance. But in Maharashtra, questions are being raised on the law-and-order situation, various police forces, and the state's home ministry for a while, and several of these instances involve politicians or people directly related to them.
Here are a few examples:
September 2024: Prime accused in the case of Badlapur school sexual assault in encountered while being transferred.
May 2024: The infamous Pune Porsche case - Drunk minor who killed two people let off with an essay, Sasson hospital doctors bribed to swap blood samples, driver thrashed and kidnapped by the boy's grandfather to take the blame - the case juts kept getting murkier.
April 2024: Two men from Lawrence Bishnoi's gang fired shots at Salman Khan's house and fled on a bike. One of those accused later died by suicide while in police custody.
February 2024: Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Abhishek Ghosalkar shot dead on a Facebook LIVE by his political rival Morris Noronha who also shot himself later.
January 2024: Pune based Gangster Sharad Mohol, whose wife is an active BJP member, killed in an alleged inter-gang rivalry. One of the accused Vitthal Shelar was also a BJP leader and had an illustrious criminal history.
January 2024: Pune BJP MLA was booked for slapping a policeman at an event at Sassoon general hospital.
October 2023: Arrested drug mafia Lalit Patil is taken to Pune's Sassoon hospital and absconded till he was found again two weeks later.
August 2023: Raj Surve, son of Sena MLA Prakash Surve was booked for abducting a businessman at gunpoint in Mumbai.
March 2021: Former top cop Sachin Vaze placed a vehicle full of explosives outside Mukesh Ambani's house, murdered the owner of that vehicle, and wanted to take credit for 'solving the case'.
Around the same time, former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh accused the sitting home minister and NCP leader Anil Deshmukh of extortion. All three of them have been blaming each other still.
Now, a look at the crime statistics of the state according to some data by National Crime Records Bureau:
Rioting
For three consecutive years, Maharashtra has ranked highest in terms of rioting cases be it communal, caste-based, or of any other nature.
Hate Speeches
Several studies indicated how the state topped in delivering communal hate speeches in 2023, with so many leaders like Nitesh Rane and T Raja Singh being scot free despite multiple cases against them.
Corruption
In Maharashtra, the number of reported corruption cases was 773 last year compared to 749 in 2021 and 664 in 2020.
Crimes Against Women
In 2020, there were 88 average cases reported per day, which rose to 109 per day in 2021 under the MVA government and then rose to an average of 126 per day in 2022 and 2023. The specific statistics of rapes and murders, and gangrapes and murders are even more alarming.
So, who will take accountability? The police? The intelligence agencies? Or the home ministry?
Political parties and MVA-Mahayuti alliances and their leaders keep blaming each other but the fact remains that these statistics and incidents paint a grim picture of Maharashtra's law and order situation with some or the other statistics competing with themselves to get better or worse.
As the election approaches, it is up to the voters to choose wisely, for better or for worse!
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