Nearly 300 rape cases in Delhi this year

The national capital has seen no let up in crime against women as Delhi Police has registered nearly 300 cases of rape and more than 500 cases of molestation in the first two months of this year.

The police, however, termed this rise in numbers as a good sign saying that this means women today feel more comfortable in coming out and reporting the incident which was not the case earlier.

"After the December 16, 2012 incident, the society was forced to think in this direction and steps were taken. Women got a new self confidence as law was changed; police was sensitized. This caused a spurt of 300 to 400 per cent rise in crimes against women in 2013. The trend continued in 2014 although it was not that steep," Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi said.

"Now, if we see those figures in continuation in 2015, we find that they are almost similar, even lower. I can say that it is a good thing that whenever there is a crime against women, it doesn't remain hidden and that is the good thing," he noted.

According to Delhi Police data, nearly 300 FIRs of rape were filed in the first two months of 2015 while FIRs registered under sections of 354 and 509 (molestation and outraging modesty of women) of IPC is more than 500.

In 2014 (up to Dec 15), 2,069 rape cases were reported as compared to 1,571 cases in the corresponding period of 2013.

4,179 cases of molestation of women were reported in 2014 (up to Dec 15). Out of these, as many as 67.17 per cent cases have been solved.

The analysis of the data available with police also revealed that nearly 96 per cent rapes were committed by those having acquaintance with the victim or her family members. Only in 4 per cent cases, strangers were found involved.

Talking about the issue, Bassi also emphasised on the need of teaching self defence techniques to women so that the physical capacity gap between them and men can be bridged.

"We want self-defence to be part of girl's curriculum since early childhood so that by the time she becomes 15-year-old, when she becomes vulnerable to misdemeanours, she can fight back. We have set a target of imparting such training to one lakh girls this year and I am happy to inform you that till March 8, we have trained nearly 26,000 girls," he said.