Govt hasn't deviated from zero-tolerance policy on crime: Adityanath

Breaking his silence on the Unnao rape case, in which one of his party MLAs is the accused, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday said his government had not deviated from its zero-tolerance policy on crime and corruption.

"As soon as the matter came to the notice of the government on April 9, we immediately constituted a Special Investigation Team and initiated action in the matter...the policemen and doctors found guilty in the SIT report were suspended," he told reporters in Chitrakoot.

"We have referred the matter to the CBI...our government will not compromise on the zero-tolerance policy it has followed against crime and corruption since the beginning. We will firmly deal with criminals, however influential they might be," Adityanath said.

Senior Uttar Pradesh minister and spokesperson of the state government Siddharth Nath Singh said the law will take its own course and lashed out at the opposition for "shedding crocodile tears" on the issue of women's safety.

The process of recommending a CBI inquiry was promptly completed, the central probe agency had already taken over the case and detained the accused MLA for questioning, he pointed out.

Slamming the political opponents of the BJP for raising an accusing finger at the Uttar Pradesh government for the "delay in the MLA's arrest", Singh recalled how the then chief minister Akhilesh Yadav had "shielded rape-accused minister" Gayatri Prajapati.

He also referred to Samajwadi Party (SP) patron Mulayam Singh Yadav's remarks -- "Should a rape accused be punished with hanging? Boys are boys, they make mistakes."

"Those who are raising a hue and cry are shedding crocodile tears for women...those who held a candlelight march last night (Thursday) should remember that the 'tandoor case' had taken place during their government and what all were done by their men," Singh said.

He was referring to Congress president Rahul Gandhi taking part in a candlelight vigil in New Delhi last night (Thursday) to protest the growing incidents of violence against women and former Youth Congress leader Sushil Sharma serving a life term in the sensational murder case of his wife, Naina Sahni, in which the body of the victim was disposed of by putting it in the tandoor of a restaurant in the national capital in July, 1995.