Congress, BJP tussle over crimes against women

Rajasthan Congress president Govind Dotasra has argued that registration of cases has increased, not crimes.

 

New Delhi: The Congress and the BJP have crossed swords over an alleged rise in crimes against women in Rajasthan. The BJP has alleged that cases of atrocities against women have gone up ever since the Ashok Gehlot government came to power in the state.

The government counters the allegation, saying that cases look to be on the rise because of the fact that there is now no laxity in registering cases, which was not happening during the previous government.

Rajasthan Congress president Govind Dotasra, who is also a cabinet minister in the state, says that cases of crime against women are being registered properly due to which victims are getting justice. Even the NCRB admits that more number of registrations does not mean that crimes has risen, as earlier it went unreported, says Dotasra. He said that unfortunately, the BJP is trying to project it as if crimes have gone up. He further alleged that since Narendra Modi government’s vaccination programme has failed, the BJP is using it to shift focus.

In fact, the Gehlot government is being targeted in view of the latest NCRB data. Apart from Rajasthan, several other states such as Maharashtra, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Assam, Haryana, Odisha and Jharkhand have also figured in the report for growing number of cases of rape and other crimes against women. But Rajasthan has been singled out by the BJP as the state is ruled by the Congress. According to the data, such cases have more than doubled in these states in the last 10 years. Law and order in these states has been questioned. All the governments need to take effective steps to contain this.

After the Nirbhaya incident, law enforcers were high on rhetoric, but, on the contrary, atrocities against women have increased manifold thereafter.

Despite several steps by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in UP, violence against women did not reduce. The Hathras and Balrampur incidents were some of the glaring examples of this. AICC general secretary in charge of UP, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, had targeted the state government over these incidents as well.

Recently, she hit out at the UP government over a recent incident in Mathura, saying that “there is a jungle raj in the state and women’s safety is in god’s hand”.

UP and Rajasthan are the two states where the cases of crimes against women have increased. Rajasthan had reported 5,997 cases of molestation in 2019, and the number went up in 2021. BJP alleged that there is no fear of police among the criminals. BJP leader Rajendra Rathore went to the extent of calling Rajasthan as “rapistan”.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has been reiterating that no laxity will be tolerated in terms of atrocities against women. He has asked the police to immediately register cases and take action. Dotasra says that BJP is devoid of any issue, so it is blowing it out of proportion, while the situation is worse in UP.v