Madhya Pradesh: Home minister says 4,527 women raped in 2016, adds numbers don't reflect real picture

The number of registered rape cases in Madhya Pradesh do not reflect the true picture of crime against women in the state, MP Home Minister Bhupendra Singh said on Tuesday.

"We are sensitive towards women and have directed the police to register FIRs in all cases that are reported. So the figures may show a high number but the actual picture is something else as in many cases women either change their statement in court or retract allegations," Singh told India Today.

On Monday, Bhupendra Singh in a written reply to a question asked by Congress MLA Ram Nivas Rawat in the state Vidhan Sabha said that 4,527 cases of rape were reported from across the state in the past one year. Of these 13 women were killed after they were raped, while 14 committed suicide.

Of the 4,527 women who were raped 611 belonged to the scheduled caste category, 662 were from the Scheduled Tribe category and 750 women were from the OBC category. Incidentally, National Crime Records Bureau data states that there 4, 391 cases reported from the state.

The home minister's defence of rape figures comes at a time when BJP leaders in Morena and Mandsaur have been charged with outraging the modesty of women.

In Mandsaur, a middle aged woman tried to do self immolation outside the district collector's office on Monday alleging police was not registering her complaint against a BJP leader who had allegedly outraged he modesty on Sunday.

BJP LEADERS BOOKED

In Morena, another women levelled rape charges against a block level BJP leader on Tuesday around the same time when the home minister was busy justifying the high rape figures across the state.

The Morena victim has alleged she was taken to a lonely place on the pretext of getting her a ration card and was raped by the BJP leader for two days.In Chhattarpur, a 75 year-old woman who was raped by her tenant on Sunday is battling for her life in a Gwalior Hospital.

In the state capital Bhopal, a three year old girl was allegedly raped by the director of a high profile play school on February 23. The victim's parents have alleged that police did not register a case till February 27 and that the accused was yet to be arrested.

India Today cited all the cases quoted above to the state home minister and to which he replied by saying that the police was doing its job and that no rapist would be spared.

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