Which states did you visit in last two months? Alka Lamba challenges Smriti Irani

At the press conference, Lamba said, “The Congress government at the Centre created the Nirbhaya Fund in 2012, and the perpetrators were hanged. But even after 10 years, not even 30 per cent of the Nirbhaya Fund has been spent. Where was it supposed to go?”

In December 2022, it had come to light that some of the vehicles procured by Mumbai Police earlier in the year under the Nirbhaya Fund to fight crimes against women were being used to provide Y-plus security to MLAs and MPs of the Shiv Sena faction led by Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde, who heads a BJP-Shiv Sena coalition government.

The women’s cell chief referred to multiple recent instances of crimes against women in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan — including rape and murder — and said, “They (BJP) came to power in Rajasthan saying women were being tortured, but crime (against women) is at its peak everywhere. During my tour of 20 states, I not only met the victims but also their fathers and brothers who are seeking justice for their sisters and daughters. It’s been years since they are waiting for justice.”

In an X post earlier on Thursday, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra slammed the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh, alleging that “being a woman has become a crime in this jungle raj“, referring to the incident of two underage victims of gangrape dying by suicide in Kanpur, and their father’s subsequent decision to end his life too.