National Commission for Women chairperson Lalitha Kumaramangalam on Monday said that crimes against women in West Bengal had "witnessed an increase", which was not so earlier, drawing sharp reaction from the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC).
"As far as I know crimes against women were not so much earlier. Now it has increased," Kumarmangalam, who led a three-member NCW team to Enayatpur in Mograhat area of South 24-Parganas district where a 14-year-old girl had been missing since May.
Before visiting Mograhat, the team met the girl's parents in Kolkata. Kumarmangalam said that the parents of the missing girl Tuktuki Mondal appeared to be scared and so were the women living near her house at Enayatpur. She alleged that some people were trying to paint the incident in political and religious colours, which, she felt, should not be done.
Asked if she would meet BJP leaders who are camping at the local police station, she answered in the negative. The NCW team met District Magistrate P B Salim and Superintendent of Police Sunil Chowdhury.
TMC national spokesperson Derek O'Brien in a rejoinder said that women were safe in Bengal.
"Women in Bengal are very safe. Madam, before you make sweeping statements, may we ask you two questions: How safe are "you" in Delhi? Is this a political statement you are making?" O' Brien said.
Meanwhile, the South 24-Parganas district police said that the girl surrendered before the Mograhat police station on Monday. She would be produced in the Juvenile Court tomorrow before being handed over to her parents.
