‘A woman is raped every 2 hrs in MP’

BHOPAL:THE brutal gang rape of a 19-year-old college student in Bhopal has once again put the spotlight on rising cases of sexual violence in the state.

Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan recently claimed that MP was way ahead of the United States in terms of women’s empowerment after he returned from his visit to the country.

Figures, however, show the state continues to be one of the most unsafe and dangerous places for women in the country as one woman is raped in the central state almost every two hours.

Data submitted in the state legislative assembly in February 2017 shows 11 women were raped every day and six gang-raped almost every week between February 1, 2016, and mid-february 2017. As many as 4,279 women were raped and 248 gang-raped in the state. And of the 4,279 victims, over half were minors.

The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data released for 2015 shows MP reported 4,391 — the highest number of rape cases in the country in that year. In 2014, the state reported 5,076 rape cases, accounting for 14% of the total rape cases reported from across the country. Bhopal-based NGO Sangini Gender Resource Centre said in its 2013 study that most of the girls in the state capital have been the victims of sexual harassment of one or the other kind such as stalking (23%), unwarranted touching in public places (6%), obscene talk (11%), obscene talk on mobile phones (14%), attempt to rape (7%), being cheated after lured into love (3%) and obscene gestures (1%).

Women activist Upasana Behera said, “The CM said MP was better in women’s empowerment compared to the US. How can women feel empowered when they can’t even move in the heart of Bhopal without fear?” Behera also rubbished the argument that the figures were higher in MP as more cases were registered in the state.