Kolkata: West Bengal topped the charts for the seventh consecutive year in cases of domestic violence against women in India.
According to an annual report released by the National Crime Records Bureau’s (NCRB) on Wednesday, an average of 64 cases of crime against women were reported daily in the state in 2014, reflecting a rise in the number of murders and suicides due to dowry.
“The figures tell a shocking story were homes in Bengal have become a graveyard for women, where they are regularly abused, beaten, burnt, murdered and often spend their days in subhuman condition. This phenomenon is seen all across the state cutting across all social, religious, class, caste and economic backgrounds,” Smita Goswami, a social worker.
The data also overrules the perception of West Bengal being more progressive as compared to north Indian states like Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana, whose society for ages has been stereotyped as viciously parochial.
The figures also show a sudden rise in cruelty against married women by 235 per cent against the 110 per cent increase nationally.
Of the 337,922 incidents of crime against women in the whole country, Bengal accounted for 23,287 cases, followed by Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh which recorded 15,956 and 10,471 cases respectively.
The staple defence from the present Trinamool Congress government and the erstwhile Left Front government that ruled the state since 2011 has been that women are able to go to a police station and file a complaint. That is not so in many states.
Though there may be some proverbial truth, the data draws a grim picture for a state that has always prided itself on being progressive.
“It is quite scary to go through the data as because it shows how helpless women still are in this country 68 years since independence,” said Shanta Jaiswal, who runs a pan India organisation for raising awareness against domestic violence against women.
“The situation for Bengal is like being in a war zone, but also the overall pan India situation is equally scary,” Jaiswal added.
“It is not only married women who are at risk. the daughters are at equal risk, where they are being terrorised and often raped by their brothers and even fathers.
“However, for West Bengal led by a fiery women chief minister, the situation is even more shameful especially when the state top the charts for seven consecutive years,” said Bimala Banerjee, who runs an organisation in Midnapore districts of the state.
Legal counsels say the rate of convictions in cases of domestic violence is just 2.3 per cent against the national average of 15.6.
“The police station is still a dragon’s hole for women, where they will have to undergo severe social humiliation just because they have come a report against their family members. Also police are so ignorant and insensitive that they do not give due importance [to such cases],” Pritha Dasgupta, a lawyer in Kolkata High Court, said.
