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Being bombarded by the opposition since the death of scribe Vikram Joshi at a Ghaziabad hospital on Tuesday evening, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath announced Rs 10 lakh compensation to the scribe’s kin on Wednesday and asked the police brass to initiate stringent action against the assailants.
Joshi was assaulted and shot on the head in front of his minor daughters by some urchins over an incident of eve teasing in Vijaynagar two days back on Monday night in Ghaziabad.
The Chief Minister’s Office also said that the deceased journalist’s wife would be provided a government job and the government would fund the education of his children.
Till Wednesday, nine of the accused were arrested by the police and a SHO and an outpost in-charge were suspended for laxity and dereliction of duty.
In recent weeks the government has been under constant fire from opposition leaders over the recent killing of eight policemen in Kanpur, subsequent encounter of prime accused Vikas Dubey and various other heinous crimes across the state.
On Wednesday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi hit out at the Yogi government over Joshi’s death by posting on Twitter), “Journalist Vikram Joshi was killed for protesting against his niece’s harassment. My condolences to the bereaved family. The promise was for ‘Ram Rajya’ but ‘Gunda Raj’ has been delivered.”
Similarly, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati also reacted to the incident. Taking to Twitter Mayawati posted, “Across the state of Uttar Pradesh, the manner in which killings, crimes against women are on the rise, it is clear that ‘Jungle Raj’ and not law is governing the state. More than Coronavirus, people have become vulnerable as virus of crime spreads. The government should pay attention to this.”
Meanwhile, West Bengal CM Mamta Banerjee also took to tweeter to slam the BJP government in UP and posted, “My heartfelt condolences to the family of Vikram Joshi, a fearless journalist who passed away today. He was shot in UP for filing an FIR to book his niece’s molesters. An atmosphere of fear has been created in the country. Voices being muzzled. Media not spared. Shocking (sic).”
UP Congress chief Ajay Kumar demanded CM Yogi Adityanath’s resignation for failing to harness growing crimes and suggested him to return to Gorakhpur.
“What was the fault of the scribe? The victim was demanding action against criminals and that was his fault, which took his life,” he said in a statement released on Wednesday.
On Tuesday itself, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra attacked Yogi over deteriorating law and order situation across Uttar Pradesh and tweeted, “Ghaziabad falls in NCR. Going by the state of law and order here, one can get an idea of the situation in the entire state of UP. A journalist was shot at because he complained to the police against molestation of his niece. How will common man feel safe in such a jungle raj.”