Delhi unsafe for women: Sushma Swaraj

New Delhi, Oct 11 (UNI) Terming Delhi "unsafe" for women, senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj today alleged that the Delhi Government have proved ineffective in tackling the issue of women's safety and security.

''Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit is not treating the issue of women's safety and security with the seriousness it deserves.

Instead, she is making irresponsible statements like "women should not be indulging in any misadventure at such a late hour",'' Ms Swaraj said at an interactive session on "women's security; how safe are we?" held here this afternoon.

The session, being held against the backdrop of the murder of Journalist Soumya Vishwanathan last month while she was returning to her home from work in the early hours, was attended by a host of BJP leaders including BJP's Chief Ministerial candidate for Delhi Vijay Kumar Malhotra, Mr Prakash Jawadekar, Delhi BJP Chief Harshvardhan and journalists Nidhi Kulpathy and Chandan Mitra.

Claiming that no area of Delhi was safe for the fair sex today, Ms Swaraj said,''for the last 10 years, Delhi has become unsafe for women.'' Referring in this context to a newspaper report about a woman being molested in Usman Nagar area yesterday in broad daylight, she said,''The woman was molested by few men over some personal enmity with her father. When an elderly man tried to save her, he was beaten severly. In another incident, a woman was robbed of her belongings in a busy area in the centre of Delhi and that too in broad daylight,''Ms Swaraj said.

In this context, Ms Swaraj said during her 40 day tenure as the Chief Minister of Delhi in 1998, she along with her Cabinet Ministers had endeavoured to personally undertake patrolling in several areas of Delhi during the night in order to bring down the crime rate.

''A look at the newspapers during that period would lend credence to my claim. The present Chief Minister should exhibit a similar will to tackle crime against women in Delhi,''Ms Swaraj said.

Speaking at the function, BJP's Chief Ministerial candidate Vijay Kumar Malhotra promised that after coming to power, he would take care of this serious issue with full responsibility.

Addressing the gathering, Delhi BJP Chief Mr Harshvardhan said,''Saumya Vishwanathan's death is an unrepairable loss.

Government has to take strict action towards the security of women.

There has to be a fear in minds of criminals.'' BJP leader, Prakash Jawdekar called for a change in the attitude of men towards women to bring down such crimes.

UNI XC-AR PD AS1817