5 women were raped every day in Delhi in first 100 days of 2018
POLICE DATA Police say 97% of the cases could not be prevented since victim was known to the accused; drives being carried out to encourage women to report crimes
NEW DELHI: At least five women were raped every day in the first 100 days of 2018, according to the Delhi police crime data. As many as 578 rape cases were reported till April 15 this year,marginally higher than the number of cases reported in the same period last year.
According to Delhi police crime data,there were 578 rapes, 1,065 cases of assault or insulting the modesty of women between January 1 to April 15 this year. Also, in the same period, there were 995 cases of kidnapping, 82 cases of abduction and 49 cases of dowry death.
Delhi Police spokesperson Madhur Verma said that most of these cases could not have been prevented by police. Verma said that statistics show that more people are coming forward to report such crimes against women, which could be a healthy sign as far as punishing criminals and ensuring better deterrence is concerned.
“These crimes are not preventable because in 97 per cent of the cases, the accused and victims are known to each other. If the rape or molestation is happening inside someone’s house, the police cannot prevent it,” said Verma.
Verma said that to ensure that more people report such crimes, police carry out awareness campaigns in pockets across the city, specially in the slum clusters.
In 2017, the annual statistics revealed there were 944 cases of assault on women were reported till April 15, while 883 cases were reported this year during the same period. In 2017, 2,049 rape cases were reported as opposed to 2,064 in 2016.
Amod Kanth, former director general of police and founder of Prayas, a Delhi-based non-governmental organisation, concurred with Verma on most incidents not being preventable but said that there are specific cases which could be stopped.
“In many cases, there is transit involved where the victim is first abducted and then taken to some place and raped. If a policeman is present in that area and is extra vigilant, he can certainly stop such incident. In cases where the crime takes place within the house, then families can raise their voice against a family member,” said Kanth.
On Sunday, police concluded a self-defence training programme which it had started for girl students in the rural areas of Dwarka. In the past two weeks, at least 1,000 girls were taught art of self-defence.