'Beti Bachao only lip service': Congress accuses Centre, UP govt of insensitivity and apathy regarding child safety

New Delhi: Congress accused the BJP government of complete insensitivity and apathy towards children safety Saturday and said the Supreme Court has been forced to take suo motu notice of increasing child rape cases in the country. Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala alleged that the BJP government’s ‘Beti Bachao’ campaign is merely a lip service as it spends only “five paisa per girl child in the country.” He alleged that 24,000 child rapes have happened in last six months and the BJP government cannot run away from its responsibility. “Lip service and hype cannot be a substitute for securing the women and child and the BJP which champions in hyperbole must now walk the talk on Women and Child Security,” he said in a statement. [caption id=“attachment_5813221” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala. PTI[/caption] BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of FIRs — related to child rape incidents — registered at 3,457 and it has only disposed of 22 FIRs which is a minuscule 3 percent of the total FIRs registered, Surjewala said. He asked, “Is it not true that the BJP government has deliberately concealed the NCRB data since 2016 and has not published any ‘Crime Against Women’ data in the past 3 years?” “The last NCRB Data ie, of the year 2016 on Child Rapes [POCSO Cases] records an astounding figure of 90,000 pending cases of sexual crimes against children. Why is the BJP government hiding this data?” he questioned. He asked if it is not true that BJP government at Centre as well as Uttar Pradesh have remained mute spectators even as growing incidents of “women and children being raped and/or killed on the streets” are taking place in different districts of Uttar Pradesh. “BJP which referred to women as ‘The Nation Builder’ in its 2014 Manifesto has managed to bewilder women by the detrimental actions and inactions of its ministers, leaders and workers,” Surjewala alleged. The Supreme Court Friday took note, on its own, of the “alarming rise” in the number of rape incidents against children and said it will pass directions to ensure a “concerted” and “clear” national response against such acts. Referring to the data on sexual crimes against children, the Supreme Court said that from January 1 to June 30 this year, 24,212 FIRs have been filed across India. Out of over 24,000 cases, 11,981 are still being probed by the police and in 12,231 cases, police have filed the charge sheet, it said. Trials have commenced in 6,449 cases only, it said, adding that they are yet to commence in 4,871 cases. Till now, the trial courts have decided only 911 cases, about 4 percent of the total cases registered, it said