In a damning indictment of the BJP’s commitment to women’s safety, the party with the mantra “Beti Bachao”, has now emerged as one with the highest number of 12 lawmakers at the central and state levels who have declared cases of crime against women against them. This is as per a report by Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR), a Delhi based think tank.
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All major political parties give tickets to candidates with cases of crime against women, especially rape, and therefore hinder the safety and dignity of women as citizens, said ADR, which along with the National Election Watch (NEW) analysed the election affidavits of current MPs and MLAs.
The report that was released on Thursday, says “These are serious cases wherein charges have been framed and cognisance taken by courts. Hence, political parties have been, in a way, abetting to circumstances that lead to such events that they so easily but vehemently condemn in Parliament.”
“After the Bharatiya Janata Party comes Shiv Sena with seven such MPs/MLAs, and Trinamool Congress with six,” the report added.
Findings of the report
Out of 1,580 MPs/MLAs whose particulars were analysed for declared criminal cases (33 per cent of the total), 48 lawmakers — 45 MLAs and three MPs — have declared cases of crime against women.
Maharashtra has the highest number of 12 such MPs/MLAs, followed by West Bengal (11), Odisha and Andhra Pradesh (5 each.
Recognised political parties gave tickets to 327 candidates who declared cases related to crime against women. Of these, 40 were given tickets by parties for Parliamentary elections.
Various recognised parties gave tickets to 287 such candidates for Assembly polls.
In five years, 118 such independent candidates also contested the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha polls as well as Assembly elections.
Three MLAs with cases related to rape against them are Gonuguntla Suryanarayana of Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh, Jethabhai G. Ahir of Bharatiya Janata Party in Gujarat and Gulab Yadav of Rashtriya Janata Dal in Bihar.
Possible Solutions
The ADR and NEW concluded the report with a list of demands such as candidates with criminal background be barred from contesting elections, political parties disclose criteria for selecting candidates and that cases pending against MPs and MLAs be fast-tracked.