The resolution was adopted by the 24th Party Congress of CPI(M)
This 24th Congress of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) expresses great concern about growing violence against women and children in the decade of BJP rule. Data from the National Crime Records Bureau’s (NCRB) ‘Crime in India’ reports indicates that the number of reported crimes against women increased from 3.37 lakh in 2014 to 4.45 lakh in 2022, marking an increase of over 30 per cent. This increase in the number of crimes is, unfortunately, accompanied with increased brutality.
It is to be noted that violence against dalit women and children has also increased in this period. Statistics from the NCRB reveal a surge of 45 per cent in reported cases of rapes against Dalit women from 2015 to 2020. The situation worsened when incidents of such violence doubled between 2020 (7,397 incidents) and 2021 (15,855 incidents). Very disturbingly, incidents of rape of Dalit minor girls increased by 21.8% in 2021 (1,285 incidents) over 2020 (1,055 incidents). The NCRB reported in 2021 that, while more than 10 Dalit women and minor girls were raped every day, there were convictions in only 24 per cent of the cases.
According to the NCRB report of 2021, BJP-ruled states were the worst offenders: Uttar Pradesh (1,554 cases) reported the highest number of the cases, followed by Rajasthan (1,274 cases), Madhya Pradesh (1,222 cases), Maharashtra (862), and then Haryana (543).
Crimes against women also include trafficking and sex-selected abortions. Years after the PCPNDT Act was passed and despite Government propaganda to the contrary, the Indian sex ratio for 2024 is 943 females for every 1000 males, which indicates that the basic right to life is being denied to lakhs of females every year.
Trafficking of Indian women has shown a spurt. Nearly 20,000 women and children were victims of human trafficking in India in 2016, a rise of nearly 25 per cent from the previous year (GOI data). In January 2025, India’s Home Ministry informed Parliament that as many as 10,659 cases of trafficking were reported between 2018 and 2022 and that only about one-tenth of the suspects in these cases have been convicted. The discrepancy in the numbers of those trafficked is due to faulty registration of cases. A UN report says that one of 6 trafficked women in the world are Indian. The enormity of the problem and the complete inadequacy of the Government’s response are shocking.
Crime and atrocities against `working women’ at the working places are equally concerning. Amongst many such, the recent cases of R G Kar Medical College Hospital and Ankita case at a resort in Rishikesh are glaring ones. Even in entertainment industry such cases are common, which is seen by Hema Committee Report.
The presence of a Government committed to a Manuvadi right-wing ideology has certainly contributed to this spike in atrocities against women. The Sangh Parivar, to which the BJP belongs, promotes patriarchal views and policies and, therefore, it is not a coincidence that perpetrators of violence against women, including rapists and murderers, receive their unstinting support and protection. This has been seen time and again in the Bilkis Bano case, the Hathras rape case, the Brij Bhushan Saran Singh case, the BHU gang-rape case, the Ram Rahim case and, most horrifically, in the Prajwal Revanna case. Even more disturbing is the fact that various kinds of domestic violence, including marital rape, are supported by them as being essential to preserve the holy institution of matrimony.
The BJP governments at the Centre and in some of the states are deliberately undermining or withdrawing whatever legal and administrative infrastructures that were available for the protection and rehabilitation of victims of violence. Thus their right to obtain justice is being taken away from them.
The 24th Congress of the CPI(M) demands:
1) Effective prosecution of all cases of violence against women and punishment of all those guilty of dereliction of duty.
2) Serious efforts must be made to ensure legal aid to the survivor or family of the victim. We must demand that their security and other needs are addressed by the Government and we must also come forward to help them in every way.