Tripura government has convened an all party meet on Monday to discuss incidents of atrocities against women. State’s home department has invited major political parties to attend the meeting at civil secretariat, which is likely to be chaired by the Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, also holding the home portfolio.
The meeting assumes importance with increasing atrocities against women such as rape, kidnapping and dowry deaths over the past few months. The opposition Congress members stormed the last Assembly session over failure of the government to contain violence against women.
“The meeting is arranged in response to a suggestion of in-charge leader of opposition Ratan Lal Nath in the Assembly session on April 29. Leaders of 12 political parties in the State have been invited,” a government official said on Sunday.
After the last Assembly session several incidents of rape have taken place. Barely a week ago, two tribal girls were kidnapped and raped by four miscreants for two days before the victims managed to escape captivity in Santirbazar of South Tripura.
The National Crimes Record Bureau (NCRB) in its annual report of 2012 published early this month gave dismal crime situation in Tripura. The report says 1559 general crimes against women and 229 rapes have taken place during last year. It ranks Tripura second after Assam in number of crime incidents against women in northeast India.
CPI(M) State secretary Bijan Dhar earlier commented that they were not happy with the crime chart and said the ruling party and the government would take initiatives to improve the situation.
Experts are of the view that low conviction rate, absence of swift action on part of police and victims refraining from lodging complaints resulted in rise of crime against women.The all party meet would discuss the situation, current measures, protections available in the State, role of police and legal remedies before adopting resolutions, officials said.
