Shiv Sena (UBT) Criticizes PM Modi, Shah Over NCRB Data Says Gujarat’s “Missing” Women Expose “Dark Side” Of State

The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) on Tuesday targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah while referring to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data as per which nearly 40,000 women went missing in Gujarat in five years.

This has brought to light the “dark side” of the state, an editorial in the Shiv Sena (UBT) mouthpiece Saamana said.

The Marathi daily also attacked the Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government in Maharashtra over the disappearance of several women in the state and said the police, which was being used to settle political scores, should rather be used to trace the missing women.

The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data on missing women in the country has exposed the loopholes in Gujarat’s governance, it said.

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It quoted the NCRB data to add that nearly 40,000 women have gone missing in Gujarat over the course of five years.

“There was a campaign that Gujarat is the only model of development in the country. International leaders were brought to Gujarat before Mumbai and Delhi. An impression was created that being the state of Prime Minister Modi, Gujarat is heaven, but this (data on missing women) has brought to light the dark side of the state,” the Marathi daily said.

If all the development has taken place under the Modi-Shah regime, then who will find thousands of women missing from Gujarat, it said.

If Gujarat has the rule of law, then the missing women will get justice, it said.

“Or else the Nehru-Gandhi family will be blamed for the disappearance or kidnapping of women and people will be guided through Mann ki Baat,” the Marathi publication quipped while referring to the PM’s monthly radio address.

Notably, the Gujarat Police in a series of tweets on Monday said out of 41,621 women who went missing during 2016-20 as per the data published in Crime in India-2020 (report) by the NCRB, 39,497 (94.90 per cent) of the missing women have been traced by Gujarat Police and united with their families.

The information is also part of Crime in India, 2020, the Gujarat Police said.

The editorial in Saamana also targeted the Maharashtra government and claimed every day 70 women go missing in the state.

Around 5,500 women have gone missing in the state in the last three months, it claimed and said the state government should use investigation agencies to find them rather than using them to settle political scores.