India News | Disturbed by Rise in Crime Against Women in West Bengal: NCW

New Delhi, Dec 11 (PTI) The National Commission for Women (NCW) on Friday said it was disturbed by the "rise in crime against women" in West Bengal and raised a number of issues, including "increase" in trafficking cases and "lack of help" from the police to rape victims, in the state.

In a statement, the National Commission for Women said its chairperson Rekha Sharma visited West Bengal to inquire into more than 267 complaints, including suo motu cases, on which the state police has not taken any action or informed the panel about their status for the last eight months.

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"The National Commission for Women is disturbed by the rise in crime against women in the state," it said.

The panel said it has raised its concern about the "rising problem of trafficking of women" from North Bengal and tribal areas of the state.

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"The Commission has noticed that most of the widows in Vrindavan are from West Bengal and they should be rehabilitated with their families in the state. The commission has raised this issue with the additional chief secretary," it said.

The NCW said it has directed the police chief and the nodal officer to submit the action-taken-reports within 15 days from the receipt of the complaint and file the charge-sheets which are pending with the police even after over six months.

"The commission also met the victims of rape and police atrocities. In the meeting, it was told that no help whatsoever has been provided by the state government and police authorities. No compensation has been given to the victims under the POCSO Act," it said.

The commission said it has noticed that no online class has been conducted at primary level in government schools during the pandemic.

"In the scheduled meeting, the chief secretary to the government of West Bengal, DGP, West Bengal, and commissioner of police, Kolkata, were supposed to come.

"Instead of them, junior officers came without any information on the complaints which were sent to them beforehand. They didn't have any answer to the queries of the commission," it said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)