Steep rise in rape cases, assaults on women in Delhi

Incidents of rape in the capital more than doubled between 2012 and 2013 while cases of assault on women increased by five times, the government said Wednesday.

Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju told the Rajya Sabha that there has been an increase in crimes against women both in the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR).

Citing information provided by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Rijiju said rape cases in Delhi rose from 706 in 2012 to 1,636 in 2013.

"Cases of assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty have spiked five times, from 727 to 3,515 and total registered crimes against women have more than doubled from 5,920 to 12,853 cases during the same period," he said.

"In Delhi and NCR, the total registered crimes against women rose from 11,419 in 2011 to 12,288 (in 2012) and the figure last year (2013) was 21,887," he said.

He said there were "various reasons (societal, economic etc.) for rise in crimes against women and children".

The minister said the spurt in cases in 2013 can be attributed to enactment of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013 under which non-registration of cases by police has been designated as a criminal offence.

Rijiju said the ministry has sanctioned Rs.321.69 crore out of the Nirbhaya Fund to implement an emergency response system to attend to calls from women in distress and provide them immediate assistance.

He said the government has established 225 Anti-Human Trafficking Units (AHTUs) in various districts of the country.

To create a mechanism for tracking 'missing' and 'found' children, the women and child development ministry has developed a national portal called 'TrackChild' which has data on such children.