Leader of the Opposition in the Assam Assembly Debabrata Saikia criticized the administration of Himanta Biswa Sarma, charging the BJP government with a big failure in regard to the safety of the women folk.
The legislator said, "The recent incident in Dhing is not an isolated case. There has been a very worrying rise in crimes against women across the state. Unfortunately, the police have not managed these cases effectively."
He gave the example of such an incident and said, "A 14-year-old girl was gang-raped brutally by three men while she was cycling home from her tuition centre in the Dhing area of Nagaon district. In this attack, one group of three men attacked the young girl.
Saikia also hit out at the manner in which police dealt with the incidents: "The police haven't been able to handle these matters properly. The Home Department had also issued a directive to police stations not to register certain crimes against women, as a result of which many or even most such incidents were never reported."
He said, "The child marriage issue is yet to be completely addressed in many pockets of the state. Despite the fact that it is a common problem, the enforcement mechanisms came down heavily on one particular section of the community."
He further accused, "The crime rate against women has increased manifold during the BJP's regime, which its Chief Minister himself pointed out. The incidents of rape have drastically gone up since the BJP came to power in Assam in 2016 compared to the Congress period. That means, my estimates show, since the BJP came to power, there were around 2,000 more cases of rape, meaning that the crime is growing daily and that this the police have not been able to check.
The Congress leader also accused Chief Minister Sarma of politicizing these issues. "Since the Lok Sabha elections, CM Sarma has been making statements targeting particular communities, even declaring that he doesn't need their votes for the next decade. Such unconstitutional remarks are inappropriate on the part of a Chief Minister," Saikia criticized.
In the meantime, however, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma defended his administration along social media.- He said, "Empowerment of women has been one of the main guiding principles of our governance. Schemes like Orunodoi, Lakhpati Baideo, AMFIRS and commitment to prevent child marriage speak.
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