Congress slams BJP government over 'deteriorating' women's safety in Chhattisgarh, BJP calls it hypocrisy

RAIPUR: Opposition Congress on Sunday criticised the state government, alleging that women are not safe under BJP rule in Chhattisgarh. Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress Committee president, Deepak Baij, stated that even the state capital is unsafe for women, citing the recent rape incident at the Inter-State Bus Terminal (ISBT). The Congress state president has also sent a letter to chief minister Vishnu Deo Sai, requesting a meeting to discuss the law and order of the state.

Addressing a press conference at Rajiv Bhawan, the party's state office, Baij stated that crime against women has increased manifold in the nine-month rule of the BJP govt in the state.

Despite a report being filed the next day in connection with the ISBT incident, the gang rape was denied, and the case was registered as rape instead. Baij criticised the police for protecting the perpetrators rather than punishing them. From tribal Bastar, Jashpur, Bilaspur, and Ambikapur to the capital Raipur, women are feeling increasingly unsafe, he claimed.

Baij lamented that instead of taking serious action in these cases, the government is more focused on concealing incidents of rape and shielding the criminals.

Referring to a recent case at a reputed school in Bhilai, where a 4-year-old girl was sexually assaulted, Baij criticised Durg police for dismissing the incident, despite the provisions of the Pocso Act that mandates an FIR before any investigation.

Baij condemned the BJP's silence on the horrific incident involving the 4-year-old girl in Chhattisgarh, despite their vocal reactions to incidents in Bengal. He revealed that the Congress has requested meetings with the Governor and Chief Minister to submit a memorandum on this issue.

Baij also cited a case in Pusaur, Raigarh, claiming that 14 people allegedly assaulted a tribal woman, and police were allegedly reluctant to file a report initially until media pressure forced them to do so. He mentioned other cases, including the gang rape of a minor girl in Jashpur and a woman in Kondagaon, where it took 20 days for the police to register a report.

The Congress party has decided to hold a press conference on Monday across the state, followed by district-wide demonstrations on Tuesday in protest against the ‘deteriorating’ law and order of the state.

Meanwhile, BJP state general secretary Sanjay Srivastava has accused the Congress of engaging in petty politics over incidents of sexual assault and rape. He stated that the way Congress President Deepak Baij shed crocodile tears during the press conference on Sunday regarding the state's law and order situation and incidents of sexual violence is nothing more than a disgraceful display of Congress's hypocritical political character.

Srivastava emphasised that Baij and other Congress leaders have no moral right to speak on the aforesaid sensitive matter because during the tenure of the Congress govt led by Bhupesh Baghel, thousands of cases of rape, abduction, and disappearance of women occurred in the state, and all the Congress members remained silent.