West Bengal leads the country in the number of sitting MPs/ MLAs who have cases of crimes against women registered against them, followed by Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.
According to analysis by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), out of the 755 sitting MPs and 3,938 sitting MLAs analysed, 151 have declared cases related to crimes against women.
These charges range from assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty; kidnapping, abducting or inducing woman to compel her marriage, etc; repeated rape; husband or relative of husband subjecting woman to cruelty; buying minor for purposes of prostitution; and word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman.
The BJP with 54 MPs/MLAs leads the number of those with such cases. It is followed by the Congress with 23 and the TDP with 17.
As for cases of rape; there are 16 MPs/MLAs who have these registered against them. Two are MPs and 14 MLAs. The BJP and the Congress with five each are tied in the first spot.
The ADR analysis observes that “All major political parties give tickets to candidates with cases of crimes against women especially rape....These are serious cases where charges have been framed and cognizance have been taken by the courts. These figures reveal the grave malaise and travesty in our political system where the rich and powerful MPs/MLAs... are able to subvert the system, use their influence to interfere with the police investigations, use the judicial delays to their advantage and in some cases continuously harass the victims and their families…”
The ADR has once again recommended that as directed by the Supreme Court in February 2020, political parties should declare reasons why candidates with criminal cases are given tickets to contest elections.
