Up for reelection, Uttar Pradesh's ruling party tells Indian voters crime is down

Up for reelection, Uttar Pradesh's ruling party tells Indian voters crime is down

Transcript¹

India's most populous² state has a long reputation for lawlessness. But the ruling party in Uttar Pradesh says it has dramatically reduced crime — and it's running for reelection on that issue.

A MARTINEZ, HOST:

Police shootings, discrimination against minorities - these may sound like news headlines from the U.S., but this next story is from India. Voters are going to the polls in India's most populous state, Uttar Pradesh. It's long had a reputation for lawlessness. But the ruling party says it's dramatically reduced crime. And it's running for reelection on that. NPR's Lauren Frayer reports from the state capital, Lucknow.

LAUREN FRAYER, BYLINE³: Kajal Singh (ph) grew up in Uttar Pradesh - or UP. She left home five years ago for a job on the other side of the country in Mumbai. But she ran into trouble trying to rent an apartment there.

KAJAL SINGH: They used to ask me, where are you from? I used to say, UP. They're like, actually, there's no flat vacant for you (laughter). It used to be known for the crimes and all.

FRAYER: Her home state was notorious. It's where the gangsters⁴ are from in Bollywood films. Kajal had to change tactics if she had any hope of finding an apartment.

SINGH: Then I started telling them that I am from a different place, not from UP (laughter). So you would lie? Yeah. I used to lie about that. But now that things have changed, now I can proudly say that I am from U.P. Now we are the same.

FRAYER: I met Kajal at night at a roadside tea stall where she might not have felt safe just five years ago. This is what Uttar Pradesh's chief minister is running for reelection on, a reduction of crime in an Indian state that was once synonymous with it. Rickshaws with megaphones strapped⁵ to their roofs are blasting his campaign songs

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

UNIDENTIFIED SINGER #1: (Singing in non-English language).

FRAYER: All the thieves, gangsters and looters have been wiped out, the lyrics⁶ say. Officials say they've accomplished⁷ this with more aggressive policing, flooding the streets with officers.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Non-English language spoken).

FRAYER: In this public service announcement, police promise to be at any crime scene in 15 minutes or less. The result is that people like Kajal feel safer. And government data shows a dramatic decline in reports of rape⁸, murder and theft. But...

MILAN VAISHNAV: You have to take official crime statistics with a giant dollop of salt.

FRAYER: Milan Vaishnav wrote a book about crime in India. He says the government's data is opaque⁹, incomplete and probably biased¹⁰. The streets may feel safer, but only for some people. The leader of UP - his name is Yogi Adityanath - is a Hindu priest and a member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist party. He's prioritized making Hindus feel safe by blaming crime on minorities and being especially aggressive with them, Vaishnav says.

VAISHNAV: In the time that Adityanath has been chief minister, there have been more sort of extrajudicial face-offs between the police and purported¹¹ criminals. And a number of people have been shot dead and killed in these police encounters. Forty percent of them are Muslim.

FRAYER: Even though Muslims make up about 20% of the state's population. They're India's biggest minority. They get arrested disproportionately in UP and in India overall. They also die disproportionately at the hands of police, often before they ever face trial.

NASEEMA BANO: (Crying).

FRAYER: Naseema Bano has never felt less safe. She's a Muslim whose 18-year-old son, Faisal, died in a police station last spring.

BANO: (Non-English language spoken).

FRAYER: "He was just trying to sell lemons in the market. But police hauled him away for violating COVID lockdown rules," Naseema told us in the courtyard of her tiny, brick home in rural UP Police handed over his body the following day. They said he had a heart attack. But the family says his skull¹² had been crushed.

BANO: (Crying).

UNIDENTIFIED SINGER #2: (Singing in non-English language).

FRAYER: In UP's capital, Lucknow, where the centuries-old palaces of India's former Muslim rulers still stand, an elderly Muslim lawyer rattles¹³ off a long list of names...

MOHAMMAD SHOAIB: Faisal Coban Amon (ph), Arun Valmiki, Shubham Marakay (ph).

FRAYER: ...Of victims of police violence in UP Most of them are minorities.

SHOAIB: (Non-English language spoken).

FRAYER: "If you consider police brutality¹⁴ to be a crime," says Mohammad Shoaib, "then crime in UP has actually gone up," he says. UP police did not respond to our interview request. A retired¹⁵ officer, S.S. Darapuri (ph), says the department has become more political in recent years. And some officers may feel pressure.

S S DARAPURI: Now that things have totally changed, even a petty politician can threaten a senior officer. And if you do not submit to their wishes, then they will accuse you of being a follower¹⁶ of the other political party.

FRAYER: Officers compete for politicians' favor, he says. And the politicians in charge of UP have said very clearly that they put the Hindu community first. That skews crime data even more. Minorities are less likely to call the police. It's the officer's word against theirs. Except in 18-year-old Faisal's case, there's some evidence.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Yeah.

FRAYER: And what are you showing us here?

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: I showed a video.

FRAYER: This is the surveillance video?

It turns out there were security cameras in the market where Faisal was last seen alive. And some of his neighbors got a hold of the footage. So you see a police officer on a motorbike.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, constable¹⁷.

FRAYER: Oh, he's smacking¹⁸ someone. He's beating someone.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Non-English language spoken).

FRAYER: And that's Faisal on the video?

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Non-English language spoken).

FRAYER: This video is part of the evidence in a rare police brutality lawsuit¹⁹ filed by Faisal's family against Uttar Pradesh police. The officer identified in the video is now behind bars. His trial begins in March. Faisal's family is optimistic about justice, but pretty much everyone else we interviewed for this story is not. Milan Vaishnav, the political scientist, says this may sound familiar to Americans, who've had their own reckoning with police violence against minorities in recent years.

VAISHNAV: What's slightly different in the Indian case, though, is that there is not a sense of public outrage²⁰ - right? - that there are many people who are willing to tolerate police violence, police brutality, if the outcome is a perception of safer streets.

FRAYER: A perception of safer streets in UP, though, may depend on what community you belong to.

Lauren Frayer, NPR News, in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India.

(SOUNDBITE OF KALEN ELMSLEY'S "VALE OF TEARS")

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 populous   

adj.人口稠密的，人口众多的

参考例句：

• London is the most populous area of Britain.伦敦是英国人口最稠密的地区。
• China is the most populous developing country in the world.中国是世界上人口最多的发展中国家。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 gangsters   

匪徒，歹徒( gangster的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The gangsters offered him a sum equivalent to a whole year's earnings. 歹徒提出要给他一笔相当于他一年收入的钱。
• One of the gangsters was caught by the police. 歹徒之一被警察逮捕。

5 strapped   

adj.用皮带捆住的，用皮带装饰的；身无分文的；缺钱；手头紧v.用皮带捆扎(strap的过去式和过去分词)；用皮带抽打；包扎；给…打绷带

参考例句：

• Make sure that the child is strapped tightly into the buggy. 一定要把孩子牢牢地拴在婴儿车上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The soldiers' great coats were strapped on their packs. 战士们的厚大衣扎捆在背包上。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 lyrics   

n.歌词

参考例句：

• music and lyrics by Rodgers and Hart 由罗杰斯和哈特作词作曲
• The book contains lyrics and guitar tablatures for over 100 songs. 这本书有100多首歌的歌词和吉他奏法谱。

7 accomplished   

adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的

参考例句：

• Thanks to your help,we accomplished the task ahead of schedule.亏得你们帮忙,我们才提前完成了任务。
• Removal of excess heat is accomplished by means of a radiator.通过散热器完成多余热量的排出。

8 rape   

n.抢夺，掠夺，强奸；vt.掠夺，抢夺，强奸

参考例句：

• The rape of the countryside had a profound ravage on them.对乡村的掠夺给他们造成严重创伤。
• He was brought to court and charged with rape.他被带到法庭并被指控犯有强奸罪。

9 opaque   

adj.不透光的；不反光的，不传导的；晦涩的

参考例句：

• The windows are of opaque glass.这些窗户装着不透明玻璃。
• Their intentions remained opaque.他们的意图仍然令人费解。

10 biased   

a.有偏见的

参考例句：

• a school biased towards music and art 一所偏重音乐和艺术的学校
• The Methods: They employed were heavily biased in the gentry's favour. 他们采用的方法严重偏袒中上阶级。

11 purported   

adj.传说的，谣传的v.声称是…，（装得）像是…的样子( purport的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• the scene of the purported crime 传闻中的罪案发生地点
• The film purported to represent the lives of ordinary people. 这部影片声称旨在表现普通人的生活。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 skull   

n.头骨；颅骨

参考例句：

• The skull bones fuse between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five.头骨在15至25岁之间长合。
• He fell out of the window and cracked his skull.他从窗子摔了出去，跌裂了颅骨。

13 rattles   

（使）发出格格的响声， （使）作嘎嘎声( rattle的第三人称单数 )； 喋喋不休地说话； 迅速而嘎嘎作响地移动，堕下或走动； 使紧张，使恐惧

参考例句：

• It rattles the windowpane and sends the dog scratching to get under the bed. 它把窗玻璃震得格格作响，把狗吓得往床底下钻。
• How thin it is, and how dainty and frail; and how it rattles. 你看它够多么薄，多么精致，多么不结实；还老那么哗楞哗楞地响。

14 brutality   

n.野蛮的行为，残忍，野蛮

参考例句：

• The brutality of the crime has appalled the public. 罪行之残暴使公众大为震惊。
• a general who was infamous for his brutality 因残忍而恶名昭彰的将军

15 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

16 follower   

n.跟随者；随员；门徒；信徒

参考例句：

• He is a faithful follower of his home football team.他是他家乡足球队的忠实拥护者。
• Alexander is a pious follower of the faith.亚历山大是个虔诚的信徒。

17 constable   

n.(英国)警察，警官

参考例句：

• The constable conducted the suspect to the police station.警官把嫌疑犯带到派出所。
• The constable kept his temper,and would not be provoked.那警察压制着自己的怒气，不肯冒起火来。

18 smacking   

活泼的，发出响声的，精力充沛的

参考例句：

• He gave both of the children a good smacking. 他把两个孩子都狠揍了一顿。
• She inclined her cheek,and John gave it a smacking kiss. 她把头低下，约翰在她的脸上响亮的一吻。

19 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

20 outrage   

n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒

参考例句：

• When he heard the news he reacted with a sense of outrage.他得悉此事时义愤填膺。
• We should never forget the outrage committed by the Japanese invaders.我们永远都不应该忘记日本侵略者犯下的暴行。