The Delhi Congress on Wednesday hit out at the police for the deteriorating law and order situation in the Capital, particularly crime against women and children. This comes a day after a 21-year-old man was held for allegedly trying to rape a one-year-old girl in Rohini’s Aman Vihar.
Party spokesperson Sharmistha Mukherjee said that despite Aman Vihar figuring in the record of Delhi Police as a vulnerable area infamous for crimes, notorious for sexual assaults on children and also a trafficking point, the police has not taken proper measures to prevent the occurrence of such crimes.
She added that in the last four years, many cases of rapes, molestation and kidnapping of children have been reported from Aman Vihar. But despite that, neither the Arvind Kejriwal government nor Delhi Police have taken any effective measures to eliminate crimes there.
Pending investigations
The Congress said despite the amendment to the Criminal Law and POCSO Act in 2018, that states that investigation and trial should be completed within two months, there were 82 pending investigations in 2018 in Delhi alone. It said that the total number of people arrested in Delhi under the POCSO Act in the last four years was 412, with 160 pending cases. However, not a single conviction under the Act had taken place in the city.
Closed 103 GRCs
Ms. Mukherjee said that the Kejriwal government had failed to make people aware about the legal process regarding crime against women and children as it struck down the Gender Resource Centres (GRCs) created by the Congress government in Delhi.
“The AAP government has closed 103 GRCs, 26 extension centres, five homeless resource centres, five district resource centres, 43 Awaaz Uthao centres and 181 helpline that was directly monitored by the Chief Minister’s Office,” Ms. Mukherjee alleged.
Demands CM resignation
Ms. Mukherjee demanded the resignation of the Chief Minister for the failure of his government to prevent increasing cases of crime. She said that crimes against women were not just a criminal activity, but a social problem as well.
“Following the December 2012 rape incident, the whole country had vigorously taken up the case and it was then felt that such incidents would not happen again, but nothing has improved. Crimes against women have only gone up, particularly in the national capital,” Ms. Mukherjee said.