No Bengal crime data in NCRB annual report, BJP targets CM Banerjee
The NCRB report released on September 30 said West Bengal did not send the data to the bureau within the deadline
As chief minister Mamata Banerjee planned to take to the streets on Saturday in protest against the alleged rape and murder of a 19-year-old Dalit woman in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) questioned her over the absence of West Bengal’s crime data from the annual National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report.
The report released on September 30 said West Bengal did not send the data to NCRB within the deadline.
“Due to non-receipt of data from State of West Bengal and Kolkata city in time for the year 2019, data furnished for the year 2018 has been used to arrive at national and city-wise figures,” the report said.
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BJP leaders said Banerjee is attacking Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, but keeping India in the dark about the law and order situation in West Bengal.
“Even if the government had sent the report on time, it would have been an incomplete one. In the districts, most people are thrown out of police stations when they try to lodge complaints. Even if a general diary entry is made, police don’t file FIRs [First Information Reports] in most cases. If FIRs are registered, arrests are not made. When arrests are made, police do not pursue the cases in court. This is a routine affair in Bengal,” said BJP leader Sayantan Basu.
He said Banerjee has no right to hold a rally on Hathras. “Did she hit the streets for the rape victims in Bengal and Kolkata?” asked Basu, referring to some specific cases that made headlines after the Trinamool Congress came to power in 2011.
A West Bengal police officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the compilation of the crime data was interrupted because of the Covid-19 lockdown. It was later sent to the NCRB in July, the officer added.
