Cong blames JD(U)-BJP govt in Bihar for rise in crimes against women

New Delhi, Jun 2 (PTI) The Congress blamed the JD(U)-BJP government in Bihar on Monday for a rise in crimes against women in the state and claimed that women are not safe there due to the prevailing law-and-order situation.

Addressing a press conference here, All India Mahila Congress president Alka Lamba, along with party leader Garima Mehra, alleged that the country is no longer safe for women under the NDA rule, as she cited the alarming figures of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) regarding heinous crimes against women.

Lamba claimed that the NCRB data reveals that most of the accused in crimes against women go scot-free due to a poor investigation.

She cited the delay in the treatment of a nine-year-old Dalit girl from Muzaffarpur, who was brutally raped and died for the want of proper medical treatment, and demanded accountability from the Nitish Kumar-led Bihar government.

Lamba held the "double-engine" government of the JDU-BJP in Bihar responsible for the rise in incidents of crime as she claimed that criminals are being shielded, protected and patronised in the state.

She cited several incidents of rape reported from Bihar over the last two years of the JDU-BJP rule.

The Mahila Congress chief also referred to the rising number of acquittals of the accused in such cases due to shoddy investigations and possible political patronage.

Citing the NCRB data from 2020 to 2022, Lamba said an overwhelming majority of the culprits got acquitted as the prosecution did not investigate the cases properly.

Of the 18,517 trials in 2022, only 5,067 resulted in convictions, while 12,086 accused got acquitted, she said.

Similarly, of the 11,783 trials in 2021, only 3,368 resulted in convictions, while 7,745 accused were acquitted. In 2020, there were 9,713 trials, of which only 3,814 led to convictions and 5,403 people got acquitted, Lamba said.

Bihar is scheduled to go to Assembly polls later in the year.

Mehra, a Congress leader from Uttarakhand, said the opposition party welcomes the conviction and sentencing of the guilty in the Ankita Bhandari murder case, noting that the outcome could have been stronger had the prosecution done its job properly.

The convicts could have been sentenced to death as demanded by the victim's parents, she said.

Mehra alleged that the portion of the resort where Bhandari's room was located was demolished using bulldozers on the orders of the chief minister.

She asserted that this was a clear attempt at destroying evidence. PTI SKC RC