– Abdul Bari Masoud
New Delhi: All India Mahila Congress (AIMC) president Alka Lamba said India is no longer safe for women. She cited disturbing data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) showing a rise in heinous crimes against women. She said most of the accused walk free.
Speaking at a press conference at AICC headquarters, Indira Bhawan, on Monday, Lamba was joined by Congress leader Garima Mehra. She blamed the JDU-BJP government for failing to provide timely treatment to a nine-year-old rape victim from Muzaffarpur. The child died due to delays in medical care.
Lamba said the victim’s transfer to Patna was held up because of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the state on the same day. She said officials waited for the PM to leave before moving the critically ill girl.
She accused the JDU-BJP “Double Engine” government of protecting criminals. She blamed them for the rise in crime cases. She listed multiple rape cases reported in Bihar over the last two years under the JDU-BJP rule.
Lamba pointed to a rise in acquittals. She said poor investigations and political protection let the guilty escape. Citing NCRB data from 2020 to 2022, she gave detailed figures.
In 2022, out of 18,517 trials, only 5,067 ended in convictions. About 12,086 were acquitted. In 2021, 11,783 trials took place, with just 3,368 convictions and 7,745 acquittals. In 2020, there were 9,713 trials. Only 3,814 got convicted while 5,403 were acquitted.
Garima Mehra, senior Congress leader from Uttarakhand, welcomed the conviction in the Ankita Bhandari murder case. However, she said the verdict was weak. She believed the death sentence was possible if the prosecution had acted effectively.
She said Ankita was found dead at a resort owned by senior BJP leader and ex-minister Vinod Arya. She claimed the evidence was destroyed from the start. She said the section of the resort with Ankita’s room was bulldozed on the Chief Minister’s orders. She called this an attempt to erase key evidence.
She also said Ankita’s bedding was dumped in the resort’s swimming pool, likely to wash away traces of proof.
