Prioritise women's safety above all else, Shobha Karandlaje tells K'taka govt

Bengaluru, Oct 31 (IANS) Union Minister of State for Labour and Employment and the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Shobha Karandlaje, on Friday urged the Karnataka government to prioritise women’s safety above all else, saying, “Make anyone the Chief Minister you want, but ensure women’s protection is your top priority.”

Speaking at a press conference at the BJP State Office “Jagannath Bhavan” in Bengaluru, she said: “I don’t know what the Home Minister is doing, or whether ministers even hold district-level review meetings as in-charge ministers. The Home Minister should conduct meetings with SPs and police officials in different districts and review the law-and-order situation. But the moment he steps out of Bengaluru, it feels as though he has gone to another state like Tumakuru,” she remarked sarcastically.

Criticising Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Karandlaje said, “The Chief Minister travels by helicopter for foundation-laying ceremonies and has no idea what’s happening on the ground. Dy CM D.K. Shivakumar’s politics revolves around Bengaluru and Vidhana Soudha. Other than his ambition to become Chief Minister soon, nothing else seems to occupy his mind.”

She expressed concern that due to such preoccupations, crimes against women — including rape and murder of women and minor girls — are continuing unabated in Karnataka.

Karandlaje alleged that the government was more interested in changing police caps than strengthening their functioning. “Without paying money, no police officer gets a transfer. There’s a fixed rate for each police station. Only when money changes hands does a transfer happen,” she charged.

“In my constituency, police officers are transferred every six or ten months. Why? Because once money is paid, the benefit lasts only for that period. After that, they have to pay again to stay. Otherwise, they’ll be replaced by someone who pays more. Because of this money-transfer racket, officers have lost self-confidence,” she said.

She lamented that money has become more important than work. “In the last two years, more than 1,800 cases of rape, gangrape, and assault on women have been reported in Karnataka. In the Chief Minister’s own district, a girl selling balloons was raped and murdered. In Hubballi, college girl Neha Hiremath was killed. When the government had just come to power and the Assembly session was underway in Belagavi, a woman was stripped and assaulted in Belagavi city itself,” she recalled.

“In Bengaluru, lecturers are raping guest lecturers. A lecturer from Moodabidri brought a student to Bengaluru and raped her. Fathers are raping their own daughters. Migrant children from Bihar and Odisha are being abducted and assaulted. How did people become so emboldened to commit such crimes in Karnataka and Bengaluru? It’s because this government is lifeless,” Karandlaje said sharply.

She continued, “They are busy fighting over who should sit on the CM’s chair, who should be a minister, who should become Deputy CM, who should retain their position, and who should get one — while people are losing their lives.”

“In the last two and a half years, more than 20 officials have committed suicide. Six people involved in the caste survey died due to pressure. Over 15 contractors have also taken their own lives. For the first time in Karnataka’s history, contractors have written to the Governor seeking permission for mercy killing. Yet this government talks about guarantees. Who will guarantee the safety of women?” she questioned.

“We don’t care who becomes Chief Minister or whether the cabinet is reshuffled. What matters is that our women and girls are protected,” she urged.

“Has this government lost sensitivity? Is it blind and deaf to what’s happening around it? At least now, it must wake up and act to prevent further suicides and murders,” she demanded.

MLC Bharathi Shetty and Hemalatha Nayak were also present at the press conference.

--IANS

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