Even as the State government announced several measures to ensure safety of women in Bangalore and other parts of the State, the lone woman in the Bharatiya Janata Party government in the State, Shobha Karandlaje, on Thursday alleged “there is no safety for women in the Chief Minister’s constituency.”
She alleged that “law and order totally collapsed in the State and the police are declining to register cases of sexual assault on women.”
Addressing presspersons here, the Energy Minister said more than 20 cases of rape were reported in the last one month from different parts of the State. “Cases of rape are also being reported in Dharwad district, represented by Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar,” she claimed.
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“When there is no safety for women in Hubli-Dharwad, how can you expect it in other areas of the State,” she said and urged Mr. Shettar and Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister S. Suresh Kumar to amend the law in the Budget session of the State legislature to provide stringent punishment for those indulging in sexual and molestation cases.
The Minister on Wednesday wrote a three-page letter to Mr. Shettar stating that the State police had become a mute spectator to violence against women. She demanded amendment of laws concerned for surgical castration”” as a punitive measure for the rapists.
Ms. Karandlaje, who is loyal to the former Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, hit out at Deputy Chief Minister R. Ashok for not handling the Home Department and not taking action against the police who failed to register cases involving sexual assault and molestation.
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The conviction rate in the State was negligible, she said and demanded the Home Minister to step up police patrolling during the night in Bangalore to ensure safety for women employees.