There seems to be no rule of law in Bengal: Buddhadeb

Kolkata: The West Bengal government was compensating crime against women with money and there seemed to be no rule of law in the state, former Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee alleged on Saturday. "The government wants to compensate any type of crime -- whether against women or youth -- with money. If there is a crime, the government proclaims we will give them money. This policy is actually encouraging the criminals as the ruling regime is trying to shield the accused," Bhattacharjee said.

His comments came in the backdrop of state Food Supplies Minister Jyotipriyo Mullick facing public wrath after he attempted to give money to the family members of a 20-year-old who was brutally raped and murdered. "There is an interesting trend of people refusing such compensation and instead calling for punishment for criminals. There is total lawlessness in the state as the hooligans are calling the shots as they are sure they can't be touched," he said.

The West Bengal government had recently contested statistics released by the National Crime Records Bureau and said it did not publish the state's disclaimer that incidents of rape and grave crimes have declined. With the NCRB reporting 30,942 incidents of crime against women in Bengal in 2012 against 29,133 the year before, DGP Naparajit Mukherjee along with Chief Secretary Sanjoy Mitra had contested that the situation was better compared to other states.