Replying to a question by Congress MLA Natwarsinh Thakore, tabled in the Assembly on Monday, minister of state for home Amit Shah said that as on January 31, 2008, 805 cases of rape were reported during the last two years, with Ahmedabad city accounting for the highest with 126 cases.

It was followed by Vadodara city (73), Rajkot Rural (51), Bhavnagar (50), Banaskantha (45), Surendranagar (39), the Panchmahals (38), Dahod (32), Jamnagar and Kutch-Bhuj (29 each), Kheda and Gandhinagar (26 each), Anand (24), Junagadh and Sabarkantha (20 each) and Surat city (15). Rape cases ranging between three and 14 were reported from other districts.

The minister told the House that 1,199 culprits involved in 753 rape cases had been arrested, while the police were searching for the other culprits.

He said arrest warrants had been issued against 54 accused.

Responding to a supplementary raised by senior Congress member Arjun Modhwadia, Shah said the government had taken prompt action against all those allegedly involved in the gangrape of a Patan PTC college girl student.

This brought other Congress MLAs to their feet. They wanted to know from the minister if any concrete measures were being taken in this case.

They also expressed lack of confidence in the handling of this case by the government and demanded a CBI inquiry into the incident.

When Modhwadia alleged that officers investigating the incident were “tainted” and asked if the government would remove them, the minister defended the investigating officers, and denied the charge that they were tainted.

In a written reply, the home minister told Congress member Kunvarji Bavaliya as many as 136 children had been kidnapped from different parts of the state in the last one year.