Crimes against women add to Mulayam headache

Both the cases were rated “politically volatile” as the Opposition, cutting across party lines, came down heavily on the current regime, raising questions about the role of the police and alleging that the Samajwadi Party was saving the accused who had links with it. Even Muslim organisations had joined the Opposition parties in Allahabad, considered a strong base for the ruling party.

“In the last few years, the state machinery has become insensitive, casual and less alert in dealing with violence against women. I think this is the reason why seeking justice for women has become more cumbersome now,” said former Lucknow University Vice-Chancellor Prof Roop Rekha Verma. Verma was one of the few women activists who played a major role in ensuring the victim of the Ashiana rape case of 2005 got justice. “Instead of getting protection, women are being used today by criminal politicians. Therefore women should now stop looking at the state machinery for help and safety,” says Shalini Mathur, who is working for the victims of crime against women for the last 20 years through her organisation Suraksha. According to the 1998 figures of National Crime Records Bureau, UP topped the ratings of recorded crimes against women which included rape, kidnapping, dowry death, mental and physical torture, molestation, sexual harassment and trafficking. The UP government’s Policy for Women also claims that more than 1,500 cases of rape, nearly 2,500 cases of indecent behaviour and nearly 200 kidnappings are recorded in the state every year.