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crimes

ing to crimes against women at 59,445. cording to the figures. tively, 15 in Chhattisgarh, 14 in Tamil
Madhya Pradesh has a dubious distinc- Moreover, the number of rape cases Nadu, 12 in Punjab, 06 in Himachal
tion with maximum number of rape has been twice in last 17 years. On aver- Pradesh, 05 in Meghalaya, 04in Jam-
cases at 5,450- nearly 15 rape cases a age, 67 women were raped daily across mu & Kashmir and Uttarakhand, 03in
day. On the other hand, Delhi has be- the country throughout these 17 years, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and
come the most dangerous capital for or about three women had been raped Tripura, 02 in Goa and Manipur,01in
women in the world. Witness the high- every hour. In the year 2001 the num- Chandigarh, Nagaland and Andaman
est 1,217 number of rapes in 2018. ber of registered rape cases were 16,075 and Nicobar Island. Moreover, An
While talking on the issue of pen- across India, this number rose hugely to amount of 99.43 crore has also been
dency of rape & POSCO cases Chair- 32,559 by 2017. approved by the government to release
person of National Commission for The NCRB, under the Union minis- to set up 649 Fast track special court in
Women, Rekha Sharma, said- “We have try of home affairs, is responsible for India during 2019-20 to 27 states and
robust laws but implications need to be collecting and analysing crime data as union territories.
better. Plus long complicated legal pro- defined by the Indian Penal Code and
cedures need to be changed and fast special and local laws in the country. mong 195 Fast Track Special
courts are must” Meanwhile, according to a survey of Courts functional and estab-
As per the data of NCRB in 94 per Thompson Reuters Foundation, India A lished for Women and Girl
cent of the cases the criminals were ranks as world’s most dangerous coun- children under the Scheme of FTSCs
known to the victims. In as many as try for women. Due to the rising statics till January 2020, 56 are in Madhya
18,059 cases the rapists were friends, of rape cases and high risk of sexual Pradesh, 34 in Gujarat, 26 in Rajasthan,
employers, neighbors or other known violence India has become the most 22 in Jharkhand, 16 in Delhi, 15 are in
Chhattisgarh, 03 in Tripura, 09 in Tel-
angana, and 14 in Tamil Nadu.
For decades, Indian legal system is facing ber of cases every year, pending cases
Despite courts disposing huge num-
huge backlog of female abuse cases. The keep rising. One of the prime reasons
number of such pending cases are alarming why we are not able to contain the ever-
growing pendency is shortage of High
and raise concern for the government as Court judges. To speed up disposal of
well as for the judicial system of the country pending cases for over 10 years Nyaya
Mitra Scheme launched in 2017. Under
this scheme retired judicial officers
were appointed to assist the district ju-
persons, while in 11,945 cases they were unsafe nation around the globe, while diciary in reduction of pendency of ten
online friends. The figure is almost the Afghanistan is at second position and years old cases and increasing access to
same for 2017, when the victims knew Syria ranks third. justice for marginalized people.
93.1 per cent of the rapists. To deal with the situation, Minis- As on July 2019, 399 posts, or 37 per
Overall, 72.2 per cent of rape victims ter of Law and Justice, Ravi Shankar cent of sanctioned judge-strength, are
were above 18 years and 27.8 per cent Prasad informed that Government vacant. Court is expected to dispose 165
below 18, the data stated. In 2018, 51.9 has launched a Centrally Sponsored pending cases annually to overcome
per cent rape victims (17,636) were aged Scheme for setting up of a total of 1023 this delay.
between 18 and 30 years, 18 per cent State wise Fast Track Special Courts Sexual Violence and rapes has be-
(6,108) above 30 and below 45 years, (FTSCs) across the country for expedi- come a subject of debates over news
2.1 per cent (727) above 45 and below tious trial and disposal of pending cases channels and burning conversations
60 years and 0.2 per cent (73) above 60 pertaining to rape and POCSO Act, 2012. and that is a big deal in a country where
years, it showed. Out of 1,023 State wise Fast Track sex and sexual crimes are a prohibited.
The data further suggests, 14.1 per Special Courts (FTSCs), 218 courts were The question arises if movements like
cent rape victims (4,779) were aged proposed to be set in Uttar Pradesh, 138 #metoo, street protests, candle march-
above 16 years and below 18 years, fol- in Maharashtra, 123 in West Bengal, 67 es or tougher laws to deal with crime
lowed by 10.6 per cent (3,616) who were in Madhya Pradesh, 56 in Kerala, 54 against women would bring about any
between 12 and 16 years, 2.2 per cent in Bihar, 45 in Odisha & Rajasthan re- change in the society. The biggest chal-
(757) who were between 6 years and 12 spectively. 36 in Telangana, 35 in Guja- lenge is to change the attitude of society
years and 0.8 per cent (281) were below rat, 31 in Karnataka, 27 in Assam, 22 in towards the women.
6 years. In 2,780 cases, their own fam- Jharkhand,18 in Andhra Pradesh,16 in
ily members despoiled the victims, ac- Haryana and in NCT of Delhi respec- letters@tehelka.com

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