While UP topped the list of crimes against women in 2019, it was impossible to gauge the numbers for West Bengal which refused to share the data.
While the Trinamool Congress has been going hammer-and-tongs after the UP government and Yogi Adityanath for the tragic Hathras rape-murder, the state hasn’t revealed its data this year.
Mamata Banerjee wrote on Twitter: “Have no words to condemn the barbaric & shameful incident at Hathras involving a young Dalit girl. My deepest condolences to the family. More shameful is the forceful cremation without the family's presence or consent, exposing those who use slogans & lofty promises for votes.”
The Mamata Banerjee-led AITC has often been at loggerheads with the BJP-led government in the Centre and refused to implement PM Kisan Scheme and Ayushman Bharat, but said it’d only do so with riders.
According to a report in NDTV, the Home Ministry said the ‘latest data had not been shared by West Bengal’, which is why 2018 data had been used to arrive at its national and city-wise figures.
Ironically, Mamata Banerjee was at the forefront of slamming the Modi govt for not having data on migrant deaths.
In 2018, Bengal recorded the most acid attacks with UP coming second.
It also recorded the most political killings with 12 deaths. The 2018 data also ranked Bengal as the third-most unsafe state for women after UP and Madhya Pradesh.
It registered the third-most suicides after Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.
India reported 4,05, 861 cases of crime in 2019 of which 59,853 were from Uttar Pradesh. The crime-rate rose by 7.3% in the country.
The NCRB data stated: “Majority of these cases under the Indian Penal Code were registered under ‘cruelty by husband or his relatives’ (30.9%) followed by ‘Assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty’ (21.8%), ‘kidnapping and abduction of women’ (17.9%).”
