Reacting on the statement of state BJP president Vishnudeo Sai about missing of women during the visit of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, leader of the opposition TS Singhdeo and state Congress president Bhupesh Baghel said that he had asked about the names of only 200 missing women. According to the police records, total 17,365 women and girls were missing from 2008 to September 2011, they said.
In a party press statement issued here on Thursday, the leader duo said that the BJP state president has given this statement in haste in the absence of full information to please the government. The chief minister has been deceiving the party leaders, along with the people of the state, they said. The Congress leaders said, based on the figures of the state government, the number of missing persons in the state was 3,739 girls and 7,350 women in the years 2011-12 and 2012-13 (up to January 31, 2013).
Jashpur district under the Raigarh constituency of Vishnudeo Sai has become the centre for kidnapping and atrocities on women. Most of the 20,000 missing girls of the state are from Jashpur district. As the BJP state president is on a responsible post, he should have collected information about the truth before making any statement.
They said that during the last 10 years unwanted increase has been registered in the incidents of atrocities on women. As per the departmental website of Chhattisgarh police, from 2005 to 2012, 8,008 women were raped in the state and from 2011 to 2013, 16,084 cases of atrocities on women have been registered.
They said that hundreds of incidents have not been registered because of fear and humiliation. These figures could easily be acquired from the National Crime Records Bureau also. Incidents of selling women to other states have also been come to light. The opposition had also raised this issue in the Assembly and the government had accepted this in written also.
However, the state government so far has failed to search for these missing women and girls and in curbing incidents of kidnapping and rapes. As such, what wonder the BJP state president would do by knowing the names of the missing women, they questioned.
Chief Minister Raman Singh should give clarification why he is silent over such a sensitive issue. The leader duo said it seemed because of being in power continuously, both the government and the BJP are far away from the common people of the state and their real problems. They should go to the people, so that they will get the right information and see the problems of the people.