BHOPAL: Congress leader Pramod Tiwari alleged Saturday that there was the enormous rise in crime against women in Madhya Pradesh under the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government.
The ruling BJP rubbished the charge, saying it was an attempt to malign the state's image.
The overall crime graph in the state has risen, Tiwari, a former leader of opposition in Uttar Pradesh Assembly, said at a press conference here.
Madhya Pradesh is going to the polls on November 28. "Cases of the abduction of women and girls have gone up by 755 per cent under the Chouhan government between 2004 and 2016. The number of cases of abduction of women was 584 in 2004, which went up to 4,994 in 2016," he said.
"The number of cases of rape of minor girls was 710 in 2004, which reached 2,479 in 2016," he alleged.
A report by a reputed management consulting firm has dubbed Madhya Pradesh the country's most insecure state for working women, and the rising crime has hampered the state's progress, he said.
During Chouhan's 13-year-rule, 30,000 murders, 46,000 rapes and more than 2.25 lakh heinous crimes were reported, the Congress leader alleged.
The conviction rate is very low and 79 per cent of cases were pending in courts as of 2017-end, he said.
"There is a competition between Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh as to which state would secure the first place in crime. The top two places are secured by these two BJP-ruled states," he said.
Reacting to Tiwari's claims, state BJP spokesperson Rajnish Agrawal said that "outside leaders" were trying to tarnish Madhya Pradesh's image.
"Under the rule of Congress's chief minister Digvijay Singh, MP led in atrocities against Dalits and tribal women. The state was infested with dacoits and Naxals," he said.
"Under the BJP rule, the organised crime has been finished. Naxalism and dacoity have been ended," Agrawal claimed.