Agartala, Aug 31 (IANS) The Tripura assembly witnessed pandemonium Monday as opposition members attacked the government over the rise in crimes against women even as Chief Minister Manik Sarkar gave details of his government’s efforts to tackle the problem.
Sarkar told the angry opposition members that the Left Front government has already set up a women’s desk in all the 64 police stations across Tripura and an all-women police station in Agartala. He said two more all-women police stations would be set up soon at Udaipur and Kailashahar, the district headquarters of south and north Tripura districts, respectively.

According to official records, as many as 2,293 cases of crimes against women were registered in the northeastern state since 2006 and till March this year, of which 821 cases were recorded in the last financial year.

“As per the crime records bureau (CRB), though Tripura stands at 21 rank in terms of percentage of crime against women in India, the state government has taken a series of measures to check the offence,” said Sarkar, who also holds the home portfolio.

The Tripura government has taken steps to recruit more women in the police force to deal with the rising crimes against women.

Referring to the CRB, the chief minister said at present 6.77 percent women were employed in the Tripura Police against the national average of 3.9 percent, and 1.7 percent in other northeastern states.

However, opposition leader Ratan Lal Nath of the Congress said that crimes against women are on the rise due to poor rate of conviction.

Quoting government records, he said: “In Tripura, the average conviction rate is 17 percent against the national average of 42.4 percent.”

When the agitated opposition continued to create a ruckus over the issue, Speaker Ramendra Chandra Debnath was forced to adjourn the house.

The crimes against women include rape, kidnapping, dowry deaths, torture, molestation, sexual harassment and immoral trafficking.

The week-long monsoon session of the Tripura assembly began Monday.