Violence against women should not be seen through prism of religion: Giriraj Singh

Giriraj Singh was speaking after the launch of a community-led national campaign against gender-based discrimination by the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission here.

Union Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Giriraj Singh, said on Friday that any violence against women should not be seen through the prism of religion and it should be condemned outrightly by all without any prejudice. Quoting figures from the National Crime Records Bureau`s (NCRB) `Crime in India 2021` report, Singh expressed concern over India registering 31,677 cases of rape in 2021 - an average of 86 daily - while nearly 49 cases of crime against women were lodged every single hour.

The number of rape cases in 2020 was 28,046, while it was 32,033 in 2019. Singh was speaking after the launch of a community-led national campaign against gender-based discrimination by the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission here.

The month-long campaign titled `Nai Chetna-Pahal Badlav Ki` on the theme `Elimination of Gender-Based Violence` will be conducted as a `Jan Andolan` (people`s movement) in all the states/UTs of the country from November 25 to December 23.

Officials said that this will be an annual campaign focussing on specific gender issues each year. The focus area of the campaign this year is gender-based violence. This campaign will be implemented by all states in collaboration with CSO partners, and actively executed by all levels including the states, districts and blocks, engaging the community institutions along with the extended community.

The campaign will bring together all line departments and stakeholders to create a concerted effort in acknowledging, identifying and addressing the issues of violence.