Congress slams Centre's 'complete insensitivity' towards child rape cases

Congress party on Saturday lashed out at the BJP led Central government over its "complete insensitivity" and "apathy" towards the child rape cases.

"Complete insensitivity and apathy by the BJP Govt at the Centre forced the Supreme Court to take 'suo motu' notice of more than 24,000 child rape cases in the past six months," Congress party Communications In-Charge Randeep Singh Surjewala said in a statement.

He also claimed such cases have a dismal disposal rate.

"As per the data collated by the Court, 24,212 FIRs have been registered from January 1, 2019, to June 30, 2019, regarding Child Rape. Out of the same only, 911 cases have been disposed of. This is 4 per cent of the total. BJP ruled Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of FIRs registered at 3457 and it has only disposed of 22 FIRs which is a minuscule 3 per cent of the total FIRs registered," Surjewala said in his statement.

The Congress spokesperson said that "distressing figure" of 24,000 child rape cases in six months raises a "multitude of questions" and the BJP government cannot "shed and run away from its responsibility" of answering them.

"Is it not true that the BJP Govt only spends 5 paise per girl child for 'Beti Bachao' Campaign? Is it not true that the BJP Govt has deliberately concealed the NCRB Data since 2016 and has not published any 'Crime Against Women' data in the past 3 years? The last NCRB Data i.e of the year 2016 on Child Rapes [POSCO Cases] records an astounding figure of 90,000 pending cases of sexual crimes against children," he said.

Surjewala questioned as to why the BJP government is hiding this data.

He also alleged that the Central and the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh remained mute spectators even as the incidents of women and children being raped took place.

"Is it not true that that the BJP government at Centre and in Uttar Pradesh remained mute spectators, even as growing incidents of women and children being raped and/or killed on the streets, even dragged from their homes in the middle of night, gang-raped and burnt alive took place in Aligarh, Pratapgarh, Gorakhpur, Barabanki, Jalaun, Hamirpur, Kushinagar, Muzaffarnagar and many other towns?" he asked.

He also alleged that only 20 per cent of Nirbhaya fund released by Centre from 2015-18 has been released by the state.

"Is it not true that only 20 per cent of the Nirbhaya Fund released by the Centre to States have been utilized since 2015 to 2018? A sum of Rs 1,813 crore has been disbursed by the Centre from 2015 to 2019. Of this, a sum of Rs 854.66 crore was disbursed until 2018, out of which a mere Rs 165.48 crore has been spent by various States and UTs. Why?" he asked.

He said that the BJP has managed to bewilder women by the detrimental acts of its ministers, leaders and workers.

"Further, BJP which referred to Women as 'The Nation Builder' in its 2014 Manifesto has managed to bewilder women by the detrimental actions and inactions of its ministers, leaders and workers. Lip service and hype cannot be a substitute for securing the women and child and the BJP which champions in hyperbole must now walk the talk on women and child security," he said.