New Delhi, Aug 23: Amidst increasing incidents of rape across the nation, grave concerns have been raised. A shocking report, released on Wednesday by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch (NEW), has revealed an analysis of sitting MPs/MLAs with declared cases related to crimes against women.
The report states that out of 755 sitting MPs and 3,938 sitting MLAs analyzed, 151 have declared cases related to crimes against women. Among these, 16 are sitting MPs and 135 sitting MLAs.
These 151 sitting MPs/MLAs have declared cases of crimes against women, such as assault or criminal force to a woman with intent to outrage her modesty (IPC Section 354); kidnapping, abducting, or inducing a woman to compel her marriage, etc. (IPC Section 366); rape (IPC Section 376); repeated rape on the same woman, punishable with rigorous imprisonment for a term not less than 10 years (IPC Section 376(2)(n); cruelty by husband or relatives of the husband (IPC Section 498A); buying a minor for purposes of prostitution, etc. (IPC Section 373); and words, gestures, or acts intended to insult the modesty of a woman (IPC Section 509).
When analyzed according to party affiliation, it is shocking to see that BJP has the highest number of sitting MPs/MLAs with such cases, totaling 54. This is followed by INC with 23 and TDP with 17.
The report has made the following recommendations:
- All major political parties give tickets to candidates with cases of crimes against women, especially rape, which hinders the safety and dignity of women as citizens. These are serious cases where charges have been framed. These figures reveal grave issues within our political system, where powerful MPs/MLAs with cases related to crimes against women can subvert the system, use their influence to interfere with police investigations, exploit judicial delays to their advantage, and, in some cases, continuously harass the victims and their families.
- The ADR and NEW strongly recommend that candidates with criminal background be debarred from contesting elections.
- As directed by the Supreme Court in February 2020, political parties should declare the reasons why candidates with criminal cases are given tickets to contest elections.
- Court cases against MPs/MLAs should be fast-tracked and decided upon in a time-bound manner, with court-monitored, professional, and thorough investigations by the police.
- Voters should refrain from electing candidates with self-declared cases related to crimes against women and other heinous crimes.
