The latest casualty of UP's lawlessness is a journalist Jagendra Singh who was allegedly burnt to death for Facebook posts against a Samajwadi Party MLA Ram Murti Verma.

The fact that party leaders and netas in Uttar Pradesh routinely trample over the country's law is a known fact. With the police hand-in-glove with the ruling Samajwadi Party MLAs, their pet gundas and party men are more or less free to do what they want.

Bad would be an understatement to define the law and order situation in the state with rapes, murders and abductions being an everyday events. While Akhilesh Yadav, a fresh face, was voted to power with much hope, he has failed, that too miserably, at changing anything.

The latest casualty of this lawlessness is a journalist Jagendra Singh who was allegedly burnt to death for Facebook posts against a Samajwadi Party MLA Ram Murti Verma.

Singh who had suffered 60 percent burn injuries on 1 June, died late on Monday night the Civil Hospital in Lucknow, where he had been admitted.

According to The Hindustan Times, "Singh sustained severe burn injuries when police raided his home at Awas Vikas colony, under the jurisdiction of Kotwali police station, to arrest him in connection with a case. The journalist had alleged police inspector Sriprakash Rai set him on fire. He also accused Verma, the dairy development minister and a leader of the ruling Samajwadi Party, of hatching a conspiracy to kill him."

A quick look at the Shahjahanpur-based journalist's Facebook page reveals several posts on Ram Murti Verma.

In one post Singh alleges that Verma did not want a leader Amit Yadav aka Rinku to get an MLC ticket, hence he had given tickets to many of his own people in the party to make things difficult for Yadav.

In another Facebook post, Singh had alleged that Verma and his operatives were guilty of gangraping an Anganwadi worker. Singh had said while SP leader Mulayam Singh Yadav dismissed rape as mistakes made by young boys, women leaders in the party too had turned a blind eye to this woman's plight.

In several other posts Singh alleges that Verma's men were planning to attack the home of a woman, he had also questioned how Verma had accumulated so much wealth.

Singh's family members allege that he was being hounded by state minister Ram Murti Verma's men, including police Inspector AK Rai. During a visit to the hospital, senior police officer Amitabh Thakur was told by Singh that he was first attacked by the minister's henchmen on 28 April. On 1 June, he said, the attack was abetted by a police inspector.

According to The Indian Express quoted Singh's son Rajan as saying, "Ram Murti Singh Verma and his associates were threatening my father for the past few days and police was acting at his behest. The minister’s three associates, who attacked my father on April 28 were not arrested. A few days later, police lodged a false case against my father."

Even as the family alleges foul play in Singh's death, it does not come as a surprise that the police have said that it was not a murder but a suicide.

Kotwali SHO KK Tiwari told The Indian Express, "A police team led by then SHO Prakash Rai had gone to Singh’s house on June 1 to arrest him. But Singh went to his terrace and started hurling abuse at the team… While the policemen were trying to pacify him, he poured kerosene oil on himself."

Strongly condemning the murder, Press Council of India Chairman CK Prasad said it was an attack on freedom of press and demanded an SIT probe into the incident.

"The murder of a journalist at Shahjehanpur in UP is certainly an attack on the freedom of the press and as such it should be treated seriously. The state government should appoint a Special Investigative Team consisting of officers of impeccable character and track record to get to the truth of the matter as it allegedly involves a minister of the state Cabinet," the PCI Chairman said.

Prasad also announced that the Press Council of India (PCI) would appoint a fact-finding committee which would visit the place of the incident and submit its report on the basis of which the Council would take appropriate action.

While several people had been earlier arrested for Facebook posts on leaders, this shocking case comes as another eye opener to the intolerance some leaders have towards criticism. Trying to stifle voices of dissent is nothing new. This incident shows that in a state like UP — where political clout is the ticket to committing crimes without fear of consequences — such voices have no place at all.

The fact that the police called it a case of suicide shows pressure from the government on them against acting against any of its leaders. If you are a minister, MLA or an MLC, or anywhere closely related to them, it only takes one call from them to get you out of the lock up, that is if at all the police manage to arrest you. If you are an honest policeman and refuse to bow down, you will most likely be transferred.

In 2014, when several murder and rape cases in UP grabbed media's attention, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav had squarely denied that his state's law and order has any problem. He had said, "It (law and order situation) is good in UP and better than in many other states... That is why they (investors) have come in such large numbers," he had said.

While there has been no reaction from the Akhilesh's government on this gruesome incident, it isn't likely to be any different from what he has said in other criminal cases. While 'stern action' is promised against those committing crimes, it is only limited to the ones who have no political connections.

With agency inputs