BJP Slams Govt For 2-Fold Rise In Violent Crimes; Highest Human Trafficking, Cybercrime Victims In Odisha

Bhubaneswar: With the latest report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) indicating nearly two-fold increase in violent crimes in Odisha, BJP on Tuesday took a dig at Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who holds the Home portfolio, while mocking his ‘Number 1 CM’ tag.

Addressing a presser in Bhubaneswar, BJP leader Irasis Acharya said that cases of violent crimes, which include murder, rape and dacoity, shot up to 40,566 in 2022 from 22,244 in 2021. “The CM was caught napping as cases spiralled in last one year,” he said.

Acharya further said that Odisha has earned the infamy of being the state with highest number of human trafficking victims in the country with 1,120 victims trafficked, including 502 women, in 2022.

The NCRB report said that 353 of the trafficked victims in Odisha were below 18 years and 1,586 rescued victims had fallen prey to human trafficking for forced labour, the highest in the country.

“Despite being way behind in setting up industries, Odisha has topped the chart with 73 industrial riots. Safety of senior citizens  is also a cause of concern as the state witnessed 162% increase in offences against them in 2022. Even crimes against women, children and SC/ST have shot up in the state.” he said.

While offences against elderly people saw a record rise of 162% with cases spiralling to 551 in 2022 from 210 in 2021, those involving children increased to 8,240 last year from 7,899 in 2021.

“If this was not enough, Odisha tops the list in cybercrimes against women. The state also witnessed eight murders stemming from political rivalry last year, ranking second behind Jharkhand (17) in the country, and 224 political riots in 2022, which was also second after Kerala’s 301 cases,” the BJP leader said.

While Odisha saw 24% drop in cases of crime against women in 2022, 273 women, the highest among states, were victims of cyber morphing. The state was also second in cyber pornography with 269 such cases being reported in 2022 as Uttar Pradesh topped the list with 450 cases.

Raking up vandalism of Ambabhona police station, Acharya spoke about alleged involvement of former minister and MLA Sushant Singh and 100 BJD goons in the case. “Cases was registered against 102 accused under sections like attempt to murder, threatening to kill and SC/ST Act. However, police managed to arrest only 22 of them. While only four are in police custody, others have already been released on bail,” he said, while accusing the government of facilitating the bail of those arrested.