UP moving towards law of the jungle: Katju

New Delhi: Voicing concern over the Badaun rape case and other crimes in Uttar Pradesh, Press Council of India chairperson Markandey Katju on Monday said it is high time that the Akhilesh government corrects the trend or else the the law of the jungle will prevail in the state.

He said that in Sanskrit the word `matsya nyaya` means the state of affairs when the big fish devours the smaller one. "Is Uttar Pradesh descending into a state of matsya nyaya. The facts certainly indicate in that direction," Katju said in a write-up. He said the National Crime Records Bureau gives UP the dubious distinction of being the worst state in India in terms of law and order. "The Badaun gang rape and hanging of two sisters by a gang which included police personnel, the murder in Dadri of Vijay Pandit, the attempted rape in Aligarh of a lady Judge in her apparently well protected home in a high security area, etc, etc certainly creates that impression (of matsya nyaya)," Katju, who is a former Supreme Court Judge, said. Katju said that crimes against women, particularly, seem to be escalating in UP and added that it is "high time" the UP government reverses this trend, "otherwise it may become too late, and a full bloom state of matsya nyaya may then engulf the whole state." Katju also mentioned several ancient Indian texts and added that ancient thinkers were of the view that the worst state of affairs possible in society is a state of lawlessness and added that when the rule of law collapses it is replaced by `matsya nyaya`, which means the law of the jungle.