Kolkata: West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar and the state’s home department got into a war of words on Twitter Tuesday.
The spat began when Governor Dhankhar shared a “fact-sheet” showing that Bengal had recorded 223 cases of rape and 639 cases of abduction in August 2020. According to the sheet, Murshidabad district recorded 51 incidents of rape, followed by Nadia district with 24 incidents and Malda with 22 incidents.
Rapes-223 and Kidnappings-639 @MamataOfficial in August 2020 as per official reports indicate worrisome state of crime against women- a cause of concern.
Time to douse fire under feet and put law and order in place @WBPolice @KolkataPolice before attending flames elsewhere. pic.twitter.com/302U2kkUTf
— Governor West Bengal Jagdeep Dhankhar (@jdhankhar1) October 6, 2020
He called the numbers a “cause of concern”, and said: “Time to douse fire under feet and put law and order in place @WBPolice @KolkataPolice before attending flames elsewhere.”
Hours after Dhankhar’s tweet, which was accompanied by a picture of a sheet with district-wise figures, the state home department’s Twitter handle issued its first tweet since 31 August, stating: “Rajbhavan (sic) dissemination of WB ‘statistics’ on rape and kidnapping is not based on any official report, data, or information. Allegations are baseless, ill- founded, and misguiding: totally incongruous with authentic facts and figures.”
Rajbhavan dissemination of WB "statistics" on rape and kidnapping is not based on any official report, data, or information. Allegations are baseless, ill- founded, and misguiding: totally incongruous with authentic facts and figures.
— HOME DEPARTMENT – GOVT. OF WEST BENGAL (@HomeBengal) October 6, 2020
However, the Governor retorted by saying he was “stunned”, tagging CM Mamata Banerjee and calling the home department’s tweet a “terrible misrepresentation”. He said the statistics had been “diligently” corroborated from data officially sent by all divisions, and demanded the withdrawal of the statement with an apology.
Stunned @MamataOfficial terrible misrepresentation. Must apologetically withdraw and make amends. Statistics of Rapes-223 and Kidnappings-639 in August 2020 emanate from authentic reports officially sent to me from each of Divisions. All figures after due diligence. https://t.co/I4fN5ynHJe
— Governor West Bengal Jagdeep Dhankhar (@jdhankhar1) October 6, 2020
Those responsible for such outrageously incorrect assertions to run down a constitutional office will not be without consequences. Such stance in public interest cannot be countenanced. Action will surely ensue. Hope they are as quick with truth as with falsehood and make amends.
— Governor West Bengal Jagdeep Dhankhar (@jdhankhar1) October 6, 2020
Also read: CM Mamata and Governor Dhankhar in another spat, this time over his note to Bengal DGP
NCRB didn’t have Bengal’s 2019 data on crimes against women
Significantly, despite refuting Governor Dhankhar’s claims on the statistics on rape and abduction, the state home department did not release the government’s official data.
In fact, the National Crime Records Bureau’s 2019 report states that data was not received from West Bengal.
“Due to non-receipt of data from West Bengal in time for 2019, data furnished for 2018 have been used,” stated the NCRB report in the section on crime against women.
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