BHUBANESWAR: The BJP on Wednesday slammed the State government over rising crimes against women and blamed Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for the deteriorating law and order situation in Odisha.
The BJD government only gives slogans like ‘Maa Ku Samman’ (respect to women) while the latest ‘Crime in India 2021’ report released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) not only gives a contrary picture but puts the State to shame, said State BJP, vice-president Anita Subhadarshani Patnaik.
It is a matter of shame that Odisha is fifth among states with 31,352 cases of crimes against women in 2021. The State registered the highest assault cases and has the third highest overall crime rate against women.
She said Odisha registered a whopping 14,853 cases of outraging modesty and it is way ahead of States like Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. The rising cases of abduction of women (37 per cent), rape (20.23 per cent), outraging modesty (17.8 per cent) and sexual abuse of minor girls (13.35 per cent) over the last year is a matter of concern.
Equally disturbing is the alarming rate at which children are missing from the State. The NCRB report said that 14,753 children are missing in the last five years. The State government has miserably failed to check the increasing atrocity against people belonging to scheduled categories.
While the rate of conviction is abysmally low, this indicates how efficient is the law enforcement and justice delivery system of the State, Patnaik said. It is very disheartening to see that Odisha is becoming one of the most unsafe places for women and girl children and the Chief Minister being the Home Minister should apologise for his government’s failure to provide security to women, she added.