Gujarat is on jungal raj

BY Abdul hafiz lakhani Ahmedabad / Surat
Close on the heels of Surat gang rape in Gujarat, the Modi land is once on boil as people of all sections have started to put the queastion mark on Gujarat's vibrancy as claimed by publicity hungry Narendra Modi over the years. At Present< Gujarat's law and order situation is worsening day by day. Murders, rapes, suicides and robberies are on the rise alarmingly and CM Modi is in no mood to bring the end of people unsafety. It looks that CM is not for CM (common Man). Women activists say that Gujarat is not safe for women anymore and the police needs to get more serious about tackling crime against women in the stateCrime statistics of 2009 show at least one woman was raped in the state everyday. The audacity of the Surat rape case where the victim was picked up from a main road of the city, raped for two hours on the roads and then dumped at the same place, without anybody noticing anything amiss has shocked activists. The Surat gangrape has brought to fore another disturbing trend - that of the lucrative business out of selling MMS clips of gangrapes. This has made rape a business to earn money, sometimes even through blackmailing the victim's blackmailing.As many as 267 cases of murder, 1,254 of loot and 59 of robbery were registered from the Ahmedabad city alone between June 2006 and May 2009. Of the total 860 culprits booked in the murder cases, 121 are still absconding. State Home Minister Amit Shah said this in a written reply to a question by Congress MLA Gyasuddin Shaikh in the Assembly. According to Shah, of the total 1,798 culprits involved in the 1,254 loot cases, 1,139 have been arrested. As many as 45 of the total 301 people involved in robbery cases are still at large. The minister told the House that the police could not arrest the culprits booked in these crimes in the absence of their residential addresses. The police have intensified the search of the absconding persons.
in reply to another question by Kanjibhai Talpada of the Congress, the minister said that 191 cases of murder, rape, robbery and loot had taken place in Ahmedabad district in the last two years, with Daskroi taluka recording the highest number of murder cases (26), loot (40), robbery (11) and rape (six). Gujarat government admitted in the state Assembly recently that Ahmedabad city police have no clue about 41 cases of murder, 11 cases of robbery and 735 cases of loot in the areas falling directly under Ahmedabad Police Commissioner. In a written answer to Giasuddin Sheikh, Congress MLA, who sought figures of the last three years, the government said, between June 1, 2006 and May 31, 2009, in all 267 cases of murder, 59 cases of robbery and 1,254 cases of loot were registered. In a separate answer, government said, in the last two years, as on May 31, 2009, there were in all 191 cases of murder, loot, robbery and rape in Ahmedabad district. Of these, the cops have no clue of 43 cases. Largest number of cases was registered in Daskroi taluka of Ahmedabad 26 cases of murder, 40 cases of loot, 11 cases of robbery and 6 cases of rape. Participating in the debate on the issue, senior Congress leader Arjun Modhwadia asked why was the government trying to express satisfaction over law and order situation when realities were quite different? In his reply on the floor of the House, State Home Minister Amit Shah tried to explain, amid uproar from opposition benches, that the number of serious crimes had been going down over the years, but it would be wrong to say that the government was satisfied' with the results. "We have asked senior police officials to get directly involved in solving the 43 cases about which there is still no clue about crime," the minister claimed. A separate written reply on the failure of the government to solve criminal cases in the Ahmedabad Police Commissioner jurisdiction area said, in several cases the accused have been identified but not caught, and now efforts are on to track the criminals by questioning relatives'. It further said, the state home department has begun a night round scheme', with intensive effort to check vehicles. "There is also intensive patrolling with the help of special police vehicles," it added. Also, there is intensive checking of railway stations, hotels, guest houses, ST stands, among others.
Gujarat registered an increase of 10.8 per cent in suicide rate in 2007, according to a recently released report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). The report titled ‘Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India—2007’ said the number of suicides in Gujarat increased to 5,580 in 2007 from 5,035 in 2006, an increase of 10.8 per cent. The national average was 3.9 per cent. arat, where 4.6 per cent of the total suicides in the country took place, ranked 8th after Maharashtra, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh. Family problems topped the list of causes that led to suicides in the state. About 18 per cent suicides, i.e. 1,016 incidents, were committed because of family-related problems. The second reason was prolonged illness (15 per cent), followed by insanity (11 per cent). The report further says that 198 suicides, that is 3.5 per cent of the total, were committed because of unemployment. 1,016 incidents, were committed because of family-related problems. The second reason was prolonged illness (15 per cent), followed by insanity (11 per cent). The report further says that 198 suicides, that is 3.5 per cent of the total, were committed because of unemployment. . We have gloated enough in the Gujarat is safe for women' tag. We need to accept that things have changed drastically and strict measures are needed to prevent innocent girls being victimised," says leading women's rights activist, Ila Pathak, of Ahmedabad Women's Action Group (Awag). According to Pathak, like in New Delhi, police need to have early morning and late night mobile police vans and also have an easily accessible emergency helpline number like 108 to come to the rescue of the victim. "I saw a girl being harassed on the city road in the afternoon. There was no policeman in the vicinity, the crowd came to the girl's rescue but the teaser fled. This is the stark reality of the city considered safe for women where women can be raped on the main road in broad daylight," said Pathak.
Activist Sheba George of Sanchetna said that the system in the state has taken the safety of women for granted since long by dubbing it a safe place as compared to New Delhi and Mumbai. "Women's organisations will get together and write to the state police chief to come out with concrete proposals to safeguard women safety in the state," said George. George said that rapists should be tried in fast-track courts and justice delivered quickly to ensure that rapists are scared of the system. While, Usha Rada, assistant commissioner of police (crime) says, "Comparatively, cities of Gujarat are safer for working women and students. We have not got any complaints about serious offences such as rape against the women operating in early or late hours. However, the incidents of harassment and molestation are on rise. So we are setting up second woman police station for western city areas. If needed, the staff members will be asked to patrol the attack-prone areas."In a span of twelve years, more than 50,000 cases of violence against women have been reported from 12 districts of Gujarat. With 640 dowry deaths and 1,443 rape cases, the chart is topped by a staggering 14,998 cases of cruelty by husband and in laws, followed by accidental deaths, which is pegged at 14,631 cases. Navsarjan, a city based NGO has made a compilation of these numbers from across the 12 districts of Bhavnagar, Banaskantha, Kutch, Junagadh, Sabarkantha, Patan, Surat, Rajkot, Valsad, Amreli, Vadodara and Gandhinagar for the period from January 1, 1995 to October 31, 2007. The data also shows that as many as 4,030 cases of attempted rapes have surfaced during the same period. The report said 7,894 women committed suicide and 3,006 women were abducted during this period in these districts. "In all, we have 53,395 cases of violence against women registered during this period," said Manjula Pradeep, executive director, Navsarjan. "These are the data from just 12 districts, which we obtained through filing applications under the RTI Act, and even then most of the cases of violence against women go unreported," said Pradeep. "If these figures are anything to go by, one can easily reach the conclusion on how safe women are in Gujarat, which is projected as one of the safest sates for women," she added.
Talking to this journalist , Pradeep further said that while cases of violence against women are rather large in number, there has been a significant rise in the cases of atrocities on Dalits by members of dominant castes. "In a span of nine months, that is between April and December 2007, there were as many as 225 cases of atrocities against Dalits in Gujarat," said Pradeep, adding that while 6 dalit women were raped in Banaskantha, Mehsana, there have been nine cases of attempted rape and four murders and four cases of social boycott in the state with one each in Patan and Bharuch and two cases in Surendranagar. "Raising slogans for justice, more than 300 social activists from over 20 NGOs and voluntary organisations took out a rally at Sardarbaug, Khanpur. Among the eminent personalities who joined the rally were Ela Pathak, president AWAG; Lila Desai, president, Gujarat Stree Kelvani Mandal; Suwarna, a social activist; Professor Nalini Trivedi and Saraben Daldiwala."We organised the rally to lodge our protest against the indifferent attitude of police and government towards rape cases. It is time to take strict action against the culprits because the rape victims don't only go through physical and mental trauma but also face social stigma," said Meenakshi Joshi, convener, All India Mahila Sanskrutik Sangathan. Gujarat for long was regarded a safe place for women, a myth which has been shattered by some rape cases in recent times.In 2008, 374 cases of rape, 1,110 of abduction, 122 of sexual harassment and 6,094 cases of domestic violence were reported in Gujarat, with 132 rape cases reported in Ahmedabad alone, claimed the woman organisations. "The government should take appropriate action against such grave crimes," said Ela Pathak. The Surat gangrape has brought to fore another disturbing trend - that of the lucrative business out of selling MMS clips of gangrapes. This has made rape a business to earn money, sometimes even through blackmailing the victim's blackmailing.