Bhopal: Crimes against women in the state rising due to the ‘insensitive’ attitude of the Shivraj govt, claims Shoba Oza

BHOPAL: Shoba Oza, chairperson of the MP Commission for Women says that crimes against women in the state were rising due to the ‘insensitive’ attitude of the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government.

Oza told media persons at a press conference here on Friday that according to the NCRB report, in 2019, for the first time in the past 14 years, the number of rape cases in the state had reduced. “It was because of the Kamal Nath government adopting a policy of zero tolerance. However, the present government only believes in raising hollow slogans,” she said. Oza said that instead of just claiming that he is the ‘Mama’ of the people of the state, the chief minister should take action against those committing crimes against women.

She said that the government was not allowing the Commission to function. “Our staff is not listening to us. They have been instructed from the top to stop us from working. This is absolutely wrong. The government is ignoring the order of the High Court in the matter of appointments to the Commission,” she said.

Oza said that the Commission had issued a notice to senior IPS officer Puroshottam Sharma to appear before the Commission on October 5 and explain his conduct and behaviour with his wife. “But when I came to my office on that day, I discovered that our staff hadn’t even delivered the notice to him. And that was done by them deliberately and on instructions from the higher officials,” she alleged.

She said that due to non-cooperation by the staff, she and other members of the Commission were being forced to use their personal email accounts for receiving complaints from the people. “I receive 5-6 calls daily from people complaining that the police are not even registering FIRs in most of the cases,” she said. According to her 11,115 cases were pending with the Commission as on August 31, 2020, but the Commission members were not being allowed to dispose them. We want to help the distressed and victimised women but we are not being allowed to work,” she said.

When asked about the case of special director general of police Purushottam Sharma, Oza said that an FIR should have been registered against him. “Merely suspending or transferring him is not enough. If top police officers are not punished for this kind of behaviour, it would send a wrong message to the people,” she said.