AHMEDABAD: ‘Gujarat is the safest state for women.’ This political claim of the Bharatiya Janata Party during Assembly polls, was debunked by the figures presented by the Union Home Ministry in the Lok Sabha on Thursday.
The Union Home Ministry has said that Gujarat reports on average 45 women are raped every month, more than 6 women are attacked with acid, and 260 women are murdered in a year.
According to the report presented by the Union Home Ministry in the Lok Sabha, 2,156 women were raped in Gujarat from 2018 to 2021.
On average, 550 cases of rape of women are being registered in Gujarat every year, as of today, incidents of assault on women are also increasing in the state. Around 3,762 women have been assaulted in the last four years with an average of 100 women attacked every month.
While the Gujarat government claims that incidents of acid attacks on women in Gujarat are negligible, on the other hand, as per the MHA report, statistics a total of 22 cases of acid attacks have been reported in Gujarat from 2018 to 2021. According to these statistics, acid-throwing incidents occur in an average of 6 women every year in Gujarat.
Not only this, but there has also been an increase in the incidents of gang rape in the state every year. In 2018, there were 8 incidents of gang rape, while in the year 2021, the incidents of gang rape increased to 17. A total of 56 incidents of gang rape were reported in the last four years. Whereas, 260 women are killed every year in Gujarat, debunking the BJP’s claims of Gujarat being the safest state for women. Opposition parties including the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party have in unison targeted the BJP government on the figures presented by the Home Ministry. Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi said,
“MHA statistics have discredited the claims made by the BJP leaders in the election of a peaceful and safe Gujarat is false propaganda, As Gujarat’s Home Ministry has become an epicenter for corruption, the BJP uses security forces to spy on the Opposition parties and therefore cannot focus on women’s safety. These statistics clearly indicate that women are no longer safe in Gujarat.”
“If the BJP government does not take immediate steps for women’s safety, the Congress will take to the streets to oppose the government for women’s safety.”
Attacking BJP Government AAP Spokes Person Yogesh Jadvani said, “In the Gujarat elections, most of BJP leaders claimed that women are so safe in Gujarat that they can go out even at two o’clock at night. On the other hand, if you look at the newspapers, news of crimes against women is published daily.” “These are official statistics, there are many cases of crimes against women which are not reported to the police. And crime increases only when the criminals do not fear the police or the law,” he further said.