Under Vasundhara Raje's watch crime against women in Rajasthan goes from bad to worse

By Rishi Majumder

As the BJP takes over two more states, it’s worthwhile to examine how the party has performed so far in India’s largest state, whose conquest marked the beginning of its ascendancy last year.

Vasundhara Raje thundered into the office of Rajasthan Chief Minister on 13 December, 2013, on a cry of governance reform, echoing what was at the heart of now Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s national campaign.

But, while there has been much news since about her focus on economic and labour reforms, law and order—another crucial marker for ‘governance’ seems to have fallen, relatively, under the radar. A crucial marker for ‘Law and Order’ is how a state tackles the issue of crimes against women. Here, especially, things have gone from bad to worse.

The Rajasthan Police records show a 7.5% increase in crime till September 2014, when compared to the same period last year. It shows an 18.84% increase in the number of rapes in the state during this period. August saw a 26.62% increase in rape cases. June — a shocking 33.02%.

Here’s what makes these figures even more worrying. The 2013 numbers were dismal enough making 2014 even worse. The NCRB report for 2013 lists 27,933 crimes against women in Rajasthan, lesser only than Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. Rajasthan had the second highest number (3,285) of rape cases after Madhya Pradesh. Dowry deaths— fourth, after Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. For domestic crimes, again, it was second, to West Bengal. The state capital, Jaipur, reported the third highest number of rape cases in 2013, following Delhi and Mumbai. The NCRB will put out its figures for 2014 only next year.

Of course, the NRCB 2013 figures reflect on the previous Gehlot government’s record. But the Rajastan Police figures for 2014 show that the Vasundhara Raje government has certainly not been able to turn things around in this area.

Why are things so bad? Let’s look at the Rajasthan Police for some indicators.

On September 25, a constable was arrested for raping and killing his eight-year-old niece in Kaman town of Bharatpur District. The police were quoted saying that he had been beaten up earlier for molesting another relative. They claim to have been unaware of this.

In Ajmer, at the police station in the vicinity of Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin Hasan Chisty’s shrine, on the night of 5 June, a Mumbai-based transgender was allegedly gang-raped by three policemen, one of them a sub-inspector. No arrests have been made yet. Instead, “at every step of this case, the Rajasthan Police has sought to humiliate and undermine the complainant,” Lesley Esteves, of Voices Against 377, tells me, “Be it through subjecting her to salacious and vulgar comments during questioning, blowing cigarette smoke in her face, or discrediting her and her companion’s testimony on basis of their gender.”

Is the Rajasthan Police always as laggardly? Oh no. Let’s consider, for a moment, the case of 21 September. Two days after robbers had raped a woman in Jaipur’s Vaishali Nagar, the city police launched a hunt for Health Minister Rajendra Rathore’s missing dog Charlie.

Look for instances of the government asking police officials to pull their socks up, and you only have superficial reports such as this: CM Raje, at Kota, reportedly had an outburst upon being given a guard of honour by short, pot-bellied policemen. She expressed her displeasure to the Inspector General of Police who immediately sent a showcause notice to the city’s Additional SP and chargesheeted the officer who had picked the fat policemen. He protested that, of 10 men, it was only the bugler that was overweight.

This incident occurred a month before Rathore lost his dog. So, who knows. Perhaps the policemen looking for Charlie were actually just on a workout.

Perhaps it made more sense to Jaipur Police to run around trying to spot a beagle (Charlie’s breed) than criminals. Sadly for the cops, Charlie was finally returned not by the Rajasthan Police but an old man out on a morning walk — a more regular believer in exercise. Meanwhile, on the same day, another robbery ensued. This one too in Vaishali Nagar.

This does appear to point, however, to another upward trend: the state’s newfound passion for animal rights. What else could account for the fact that, despite being understaffed (there are 8271 vacancies in the force), the CM, on October 13, put out this tweet:

“39 new Police Outposts to be established in Rajasthan - specially tasked with cow protection along with crime, law & order duties.”

“(S)pecially tasked with cow protection”. No prizes for guessing for where the overweight bugler will be transferred next.

One supposes the Rajasthan BJP’s belief in the amalgamation of official duties (cow protection and crime, for instance) comes from a place of experience. PM Modi was known to hold quite a few ministries when he was Chief Minister of Gujarat. We’re still waiting for the central government to expand its cabinet. It will soon be a year since Raje assumed government but she hasn’t appointed a Home Minister yet, holding the portfolio herself as she does 45 others . Reports say this is due to a disagreement with the BJP high command on which ministers to appoint, but here’s what Ashok Parnami, Rajasthan BJP President, said on October 17, when questioned about rising crime in the state: “Even Gehlot held the Home Minister’s charge for a long time, before being given to Shanti Dhariwal.” “Even Gehlot”? What happened to ‘reform’? Parnami also pointed to arrests that had been made in the Vaishali Nagar rape and robbery case a few days before. Since then, in a major reshuffle, the Rajasthan Government has transferred 259 police officers , including Additional SPs and DSPs, in the last week.

Unfortunately, the country’s most powerful political party seems to have confused reform with reaction. Throwing a fit over potbellied policemen giving you a Guard of Honour is a reaction. An example of reform is a Supreme Court directive from 2006, that still awaits proper implementation. After the Police Act (1861) was repealed and states were asked to enact their own laws in this regard, the Court directed that each state establish a State Security Commission for broad policy decisions, a Police Establishment Board, for personnel matters, and a Police Complaints Authority for greater accountability.

A Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative report details how the Rajasthan Government in 2007 (Raje was CM then too) basically instituted defanged versions of what the Court had decreed. The story of the Rajasthan State Police Accountability Committee (the complaints authority) is particularly telling. Established only in September 2013, its chairperson, Retired Justice Bhanwaru Khan, tells me they’ve received “no office, staff or infrastructure” despite “repeated letters and telephone calls to the government”. Finally, on the first anniversary of the Committee’s institution on September 30, Khan held his first hearing under a tree at Sikar’s Circuit House Lawns. He received 23 complaints. He believes he can “do better”.

If only actual reform came as easily as majority governments.