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| Rapes, abductions, kidnappings, dowry deaths, molestation show sharp increase | | J&K becoming unsafe for women | | Syed Junaid Hashmi
jammu, July 8: Crime against women has shown steady increase in Jammu and Kashmir during the last five years.
237 incidents of rape were reported in 2009 i.e. the year when NC-Congress coalition took over. Though the number of militancy related incidents did show sharp decline but this alternatively resulted in local police being unable to fight against the menace of crime against women. The figure of rape has risen from 237 in 2009 to 378 at the end of the year 2013.
This is an increase of around 141 rape cases i.e. an increase of around 35 rape cases per years during the last four years since December 2009. Increase of 35 rape cases per year indicates that almost every month has seen additional rape cases apart from the routine to 20 cases per month.
Though not exactly the double of the rapes reported in 2009 but the figure is alarming since the police reported 303 rape cases in the year 2012. An increase of 75 in the year 2013 gives an insight into functioning of the state police and inability of civil society to take effective steps to put curbs on increasing instances of rape.
Such is the mess that state police reported 873 cases of Abduction and Kidnapping in 2009. The figure rose to 1093 in the year 2012. However, year 2013 saw decrease in the number of such cases from 1093 in 2012 to 983 by the end of December 2013. But if a comparison is drawn between year 2009 and 2013, an alarming increase has taken place in the number of cases of abduction and kidnapping.
110 cases have been reported more than what it was in the year 2009. Further, each day has seen atleast 2 cases of abduction and kidnapping in the year 2013 and on an average, 83 cases have been reported every month. J&K reported 972 cases of assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty in the year 2009 while this figure rose to 1389 by December 2013. This indicates an increase of around 417 cases.
Dowry deaths too have shown marginal increase from 217 in the year 2009 to 221 by the end of year 2013. On being asked, officials of Jammu and Kashmir Police attribute rise in the graph of crimes against women to more women coming forward due to greater public awareness following the gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old woman in a moving bus in December 2012.
Women rights groups in Jammu say that figures are still gross under-estimates of the reality on ground since women are often too scared to come forward to report rapes or violence for fear that their families and communities will abandon them. They maintain that for women, it takes a lot of courage to report a crime.
“There is a serious increase in crime against women in Jammu and Kashmir. Though being a conservative society, it is supposed to be women-friendly,” said a social rights activist. She added that need is to persuade the state Government to take immediate steps and measures to prevent violent crimes against women,” adding that it is the responsibility of the police to give a safe and secure environment.
“Violence against women denies women of several rights. These include right to life, to personal security, to be from cruel and degrading treatment, to health, to be free from fear and mobility. Traditional attitudes by which women are regarded as subordinate to men perpetuate widespread practices involving violence such as family domestic violence,” maintained the activist. |
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