Countering the opposition charge, Home Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan said the government viewed the problem seriously and had taken effective steps in all the reported cases.
Seeking leave for an adjournment on the issue, K K Lathika (CPI-M) said there had been a sharp increase in such cases in the last one year and the government had failed to tackle the menace by taking effective measures.
She cited the cases of the murder of an old woman, who was living alone in a cottage at Vattakkinar near Kozhikode last week and the alleged molestation of a woman by a CI of police at Vadkkanchery while travelling by a bus.
After Speaker G Karthikyean rejected the opposition's notice for adjournment on the issue, CPI(M)'s A K Balan accused the government of taking the matter rather lightly and trooped his colleagues out of the house.
Meanwhile, replying to a question earlier, Radhakrishnan said 14,445 cases of various crimes against women had been registered since the UDF government came to power in May last year.
