NAGPUR: Leader of opposition Vinod Tawde on Friday dropped a bombshell in the Maharashtra council by alleging that actor Sanjay Dutt was being supplied beer and rum inside Yerawada jail in Pune. He said some police officers were helping the actor convicted for his role in Mumbai bomb blasts of 1993.

The senior BJP leader, commenting on state's law and order situation, also pulled up the government on increasing number of rape and sexual harassment cases and called on home minister RR Patil, minister of state Satej Patil and women and child development minister Varsha Gaikwad to conduct an audit of women's safety in Maharashtra through police stations. The government would reply to this discussion on Monday.

Speaking on discussion under Rule 260, Tawde dismissed government's claims of maintaining law and order citing various statistics. He claimed that in October alone, 216 rape cases were registered while crimes against women had jumped from 1,701 cases in 2011 to 1,800 in 2012.

Citing Shakti Mills rape case, he said all the accused were hardened criminals but as police failed to act against them they dared to commit such heinous crimes. "Your minister visited Shakti Mills at night after the incident just because the victim was from media. In hundreds of other cases, no action takes place. The criminals go scot-free while the victim suffers," he charged.

Tawde said Congress infighting had resulted government's failure to appoint chairman of State Women's Commission. He claimed large-scale corruption in various child welfare schemes. He also expressed concern over low conviction rate stating that 93% criminals get relief from courts due to loopholes in the investigations.

Shobha Fadnavis drew attention towards growing number of dowry cases stating that in 2010-11, 588 were registered while in 2011-12 the number grew to 599. However, chargesheet was filed only in 543 cases in 2010-11, and 522 in 2011-12.

Neelam Gorhe stressed on the need of night shelter for women and special grievance redressal cells while Vidya Chavan demanded complete ban on the sale of acids due to growing incidents of attacks on women. She also highlighted government's failure to curb prostitution rackets citing example of Dhule girl. Alka Desai spoke on increased vulgarity on the small screen through serials and reality shows. Chandrakant Patil informed that 91.87% cases of crimes against women were pending.

