Spotlight on lawlessness, illegal mining in Madhya Pradesh

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The killing of a young Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, crimes against women and the murder of a journalist and his family are among a series of incidents highlighting shocking lawlessness and rampant illegal mining in Madhya Pradesh.

After the murder of 32-year-old police officer Narendra Kumar on Thursday, when India celebrated Holi, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Shivraj Chouhan government has been widely criticised. Chouhan ordered a judicial inquiry into the murder.

But the horrific incident has strengthened the claim of the Congress, which highlighted the issue of rampant illegal mining in a no-confidence motion in the assembly in December.

"We had submitted a detailed report on illegal mining in Satna, Katni, Bhind and Morena. We even found illegal mining in Chouhan's home constituency but the government did not take any strong action," leader of opposition Ajay Singh said.

When the mining issue was raised in and outside the assembly by the Congress, Sharad Yadav, president of the Janata Dal-United (JD-U), an ally of BJP, claimed there was Bellary like illegal mining taking place in Madhya Pradesh.

After the killing of IPS officer, Sharad Yadav said he had already spoken out about rampant illegal mining.

Not just illegal mining, but crimes against women have also increased drastically in the state.

Home Minister Uma Shankar Gupta presented a report in the ongoing assembly session that said at least 10 women were raped, including gang rapes, across the state every day.

Even after his statement, no concrete steps were taken and six gang rape cases were reported within a fortnight.

Last year witnessed a shocking crime, when right to information (RTI) activist Shehla Masood was killed on August 16 last year. The Central Bureau of Investigation is probing the case.

In February, journalist Chandrika Rai and his entire family was killed inside their house in Umaria district.

In the instance of IPS officer Narendra Kumar's killing, he went to the crime spot without any backup force. His father Keshav Dev not only claimed that he was not provided support by police but that the vehicles he seized has also been released.

Chief Minister Chouhan did not take any action against officials even 30 hours after the incident.

Another IPS officer, Jaidev A., was attacked by the liquor mafia in Bhind on Holi while inspector Raghuram Prasad was killed in Khargaon district.

In recent times, the Madhya Pradesh government took action was when a scuffle broke out between policemen and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh cadres at Kamla Nagar police station. Ten policemen were immediately suspended.