Crime against women a concern in West Bengal

A distressing criminal trait has lately been observed in the mesh of violent incidents in West Bengal is the incidents of crime against women.

While the spurt of violent incidents in West Bengal has drawn vigilant attention and reactions of Trinamool’s political opponents, Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar has flagged the issue of crime against women.

A Raj Bhavan twitter post on April 13 carried a video of Governor Dhankhar’s meeting with the state’s chief secretary and the DGP. The post mentioned that the governor called upon the officials to “take steps to curb rising crime against women; improve (the) worrisome law & order situation”. On Thursday, addressing the media, he again raised concerns on the matter.

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Cases of atrocities on women have surfaced in recent weeks, where rape by an individual or a group, is suspected to have taken place. Besides being acts of crime, political links of the accused are also on the watch.

In Birbhum district, a tribal girl was allegedly gang-raped on Thursday night, when she was returning from a fair with her boyfriend.

Under Pingla police station in West Midnapore district on April 11, an alleged rape attempt was made on a differently-abled woman by a local panchayat member said to have affiliation to the Trinamool Congress. On April 4, a minor girl was allegedly gang-raped at a birthday party in Hanskhali in Nadia district. One among the accused persons is a son of a local Trinamool leader. The case is being investigated by the CBI.

In another development on April 12, Calcutta High Court directed that senior IPS officer Damayanti Sen will supervise four rape incidents of Matia and Deganga in North 24 Parganas, Bansdroni in Kolkata, and English Bazar of Malda.

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According to Crime in India 2020 by National Crime Records Bureau, 1,128 rape incidents were reported in West Bengal, with a crime rate of 2.4 per lakh population. The national total of rape incidents recorded is 28,046, with a rate of 4.3 per lakh population. To validate if the current crime rate in West Bengal is higher than the general trend, a near-term statistical data is a prerequisite. The opposition, however, is leaving no opportunity unturned to pitch a political case.

Dhankhar had raised the issue of crime against women earlier in October 2020. A fact-sheet he shared on Twitter showed 223 incidents of rape took place in the state in August of the year. The state home department then had said that the statistics were not based on official sources. The Governor had countered in response.

Senior Trinamool politician and MP Saugata Roy on Thursday stated, “everyone’s concerned about incidents of atrocities against women. This issue requires zero tolerance. Strongest action will have to be taken in any (such) incident. For a state led by a woman chief minister, it’s a matter of shame for all of us if even one incident occurs under her leadership.”

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