MANSI BHAMBRI/Dehradun
Concerned with the ascending crime graph in the State, in general and Dehradun city, in particular, citizens urged the State government to ensure that cases of murder and other crimes, particularly those targeting women, are expedited through fast-track courts and action is taken against the accused within a month. They opine that this may curb the crime rate if it cannot stop it altogether. This recommendation follows daring murders and assault cases which have happened in Dehradun city and other districts in the span of a fortnight.
Asserting that this alarming surge in crimes with women at the receiving end of them in most cases reflects complete failure of the State government, the convenor of the Uttarakhand Mahila Manch, Kamla Pant said that the criminals and those prone to criminality have ceased to fear the law-enforcing authorities. “We have seen three brutal murder cases involving women in less than two weeks. This is unparalleled and unsettling. More alarmingly, the State government is still evasive about accountability. It seems more focused on celebrating events rather than on owning responsibility and plunging headlong into curbing crimes with all means left at its disposal,” she said. She suggested enactment of sterner laws and trial of these cases, particularly those pertaining to women, through fast-track courts.
She said that the Uttarakhand State Commission for Women (USCW) has also been faltering in addressing these issues.
A senior journalist Meera Rawat shared the same concerns, saying that while a string of women welfare schemes is being run in the State, the same women are bearing the brunt of the collapsing law and order and spike in inhuman crimes. “Despite this spate of crimes, the State government seems lacking the will to curb them effectively. It should in no time address the alleged police callousness. Had police taken prompt action on the complaints lodged by the victims their lives might have been saved,” she said, adding that the government must ensure that this callousness does not recur, resulting in more broad daylight murders of helpless women.
She also urged that cases of crime need to be handled in fast-track proceedings, with action taken within a month. She exhorted the common citizens, particularly the women, to step proactively in the interest of the society as a whole instead of remaining passive spectators.
