Targeting the fairer sex
Targeting of women for physical and mental abuse has been witnessing an upward trend in most of the states. This trend has been growing with every passing day and the government both at the centre and at the state level have failed to check the menace.
More than 10,500 complaints of rape and attempt to rape, mostly from the northern states, were received by the National Commission for Women in the last five years. States like Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and Bihar received the maximum number of complaints and cases targeting women.
Out of the 10,531 rape and attempt to rape complaints, 6,987 complaints were received from Uttar Pradesh, according to data given by the minister. As per data, 667 complaints were received from Delhi, 659 from Haryana, 573 from Rajasthan and 304 from Bihar.
The highest number of complaints were received in 2014 at 2,575. Even the current year too was no different. This year, 550 rape and attempt to rape complaints were registered with the National Commission for Women (NCW), while 2,082 complaints were received last year.
In 2017, 1,637 rape and attempt to rape complaints were registered with the NCW, while 1,359 complaints were received in 2016. Similarly, in 2015, 2,328 rape and attempt to rape complaints were registered with the NCW, it showed.
The situation is no different for women in Muslim majority Jammu and Kashmir. The state has witnessed an increase in crimes against women during the past two years.
In 2017, at least 3363 cases of atrocities against women were registered by police. These included cases of kidnapping, abduction, rape, molestation, dowry, cruelty by husband and other crimes.
In its latest Crime Gazette that was put in public domain, the Crime Branch of the Jammu and Kashmir police claimed that the number of crime cases against women grew to 3623 last year, an increase of 260 cases compared to 2017.
In 2018, as per the report, 1602 cases of molestation and 354 cases of rape were registered by police across all districts of J&K. The number of rape cases reported in 2017 was 314.
In a worrying trend, 1079 cases of abduction and kidnapping were registered in 2018, showing an increase of 119 cases, compared to 2017.
What is more worrying is that among all the districts of Kashmir, Srinagar has the highest rate of crimes against women. 500 cases of such crimes have been reported in the summer capital Srinagar, followed by Jammu (357 cases) and Budgam (324 cases).
In Srinagar the cases of molestation and kidnapping have been on rise as well, compared to other districts.
Though police have registered 266 cases of molestation and 127 cases of kidnapping/abduction in the district, the highest among all districts in Kashmir, north Kashmir districts like Baramulla witnessed 245 such cases and Anantnag recorded 233 cases of crimes against women.
Similarly, other districts too have the same story to narrate. But the moot question that arises is that when shall we transform ourselves into a civilized society. When shall the real values of humanity make us realize the true value of the fairer sex? Let us ponder over it.
KV Network
