Crimes against women declined during BJP regime, says Majhi

Bhubaneswar: Claiming that the Opposition parties were unable to see positive changes during the BJP regime in Odisha, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Wednesday said the rate of crime against women and children has declined in the State.

Speaking during a debate on the budgetary demand of the Home department in the Assembly, he said the crime rate fell in terms of misbehaviour towards women by 3.9 per cent, sexual harassment by 13.5 per cent, public disrobing of women by 22.3 per cent, trafficking by 29.4 per cent and eve-teasing cases by 3.8 per cent.

“Since our government came to power in June 2024, the crime against women and children, in comparison to the corresponding period of the previous year, has reduced significantly,” he said.

Referring to the Congress’ allegation that crime against women in the State has been rising and its demand for the formation of a House Committee to probe the matter, the Chief Minister said his government has always given importance to taking concrete and strict legal action against the accused of such offences and providing justice to victims by adopting a zero-tolerance policy.

The crime rate of reduction in dowry-related deaths was 20.1 per cent while in dowry harassment, it was 4.6 per cent, he said. The debate on the Home department budget was held in the absence of the Opposition BJD and Congress members. The BJD MLAs walked out of the House over the alleged ill-treatment of Opposition members, and the suspension of the 14 Congress MLAs from the Assembly for seven days for their “unruly” behaviour. “It would have been better had the Opposition members taken part in the Home department budget discussion,” Majhi said, adding that his government always believed in debate, discussion and deliberations.

Taking a dig at Congress for attacking the government over women’s issues, Majhi said, “The Congress should not teach us (BJP) on women’s security. Can they cite any specific case that the government has not taken seriously?” he said. The Chief Minister said his government is taking all initiatives for modernising the police force.

Majhi also took a swipe at his predecessor Naveen Patnaik over his continuous absence from the Assembly. “When he (referring to Patnaik) was the chief minister of the State, he was not visible in the House. The same trend continues now. There was a time when we had launched a search for him by carrying lanterns in our hands,” Majhi said.

The Chief Minister also attacked the previous chief minister for not attending his grievance cell for 16 years. Majhi claimed that he has already heard over 9,000 complaints, and of them, 83 per cent have been successfully disposed of.