Nithari not law-and-order problem: Amar

BLAME GAME: Amar Singh said there are many Nitharis are happening in other Congress-ruled states.

      

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Karan Thapar:Hello and welcome to Devil's Advocate. Have the killings in Nithari dealt a devastating blow to the Mulayam Singh Government in Uttar Pradesh? That's the key issue I shall discuss today in an exclusive interview with the General Secretary of the Samajwadi Party, Rajya Sabha MP Amar Singh.

Mr Amar Singh, let me start with a simple question. After Nithari, how embarrassed are you by the state of law and order in Uttar Pradesh?

Amar Singh: I am not embarrassed at all about the law-and-order situation. Because Nithari is not a law-and-order problem. But I am embarrassed and ashamed as a human being. How can anyone do such heinous crime?

Even in the latest CBI interrogation, the guy has said that he is missing children, their flesh, as reported in newspapers. And the local MLA and MP of Nithari happens to be from the Bharatiya Janata Party. There was no alarm bell. Otherwise, it's very difficult to take cognizance of bedroom activities of people.

Karan Thapar:I want to pick up on two things you said. You say you are not embarrassed by law and order, and secondly you said had there been an alarm bell, you would have taken cognizance of it. Let's first start with the fact that you are not embarrassed by law and order.

Thirty-eight children missing, presumed dead, over 30 months and only 19 cases registered. All because the UP police, who come under your government, refuse to take the matter seriously. How can you not be embarrassed by the failure of your own police force?

Amar Singh: You are absolutely right. But it is the same police force, which is being lampooned and lambasted, they have sorted it out, they have found the real culprit and the guilty. But this is no breaking news for newspapers. So one set of police officers have done a good job. And we have not hidden it considering that this is the election year and it should be kept under the carpet. We exposed it. It was not exposed by you or your tribe.

Karan Thapar: You exposed it in the end, after 31 months. And you said that there were no alarm bells. In fact, there were. As far back as August 2005, when only six children were missing, a report filed by the National Commission of Women indicated that first of all the UP police were not responding adequately and taking the missing children seriously, and secondly, they were harassing the parents. It was the first alarm in August 2005 and you completely ignored it.

Amar Singh: No. First of all it's not me. The police ignored it. I accept that. That is why we have put this kind of crime under the list of heinous crimes. 45,000 children have been missing in the country as on date.

The capital of missing children in the country is Mumbai, according to the Times of India. So many more Nitharis may have happened there. But that doesn't mean I am justifying it. I am ashamed.