Victims in 72 pc rape cases in 2016 in Mumbai minors: Report

Seventy-two per cent of all rape cases registered in the city in 2016 had minors as victims, according to data from the annual report of the Praja Foundation on the state of law, order and policing in Mumbai.

A total 628 rape cases were registered in the city in 2016, out of which 455 were registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, the report said.

In comparison, in 2015, it said that 448 out of 712 rape cases reported had minors as victims.

As many as 15,867 crime cases were registered in police stations across the city between April 2016 to March 2017, the report said.

This figure, during the year 2015-16 was 17,539, and thus 2016-17 saw a decline of 17 per cent in cases being registered, the report added.

The reporting of rape cases also declined with 576 cases in 2016-17 when compared to 728 cases in 2015-16, it said.

Similarly, 2,145 molestation cases were registered in 2015-16, while it was 2,103 in 2016-17.

Murder cases also dipped by 17 per cent with 2016-17 seeing the registration of 141 cases against 170 in 2015-16.

The report said that out of 2,21,412 cases pending in 2016, trial was completed in only 13,544 cases, and among these, 6,120 cases ended in conviction.

On an average, the report stated, it took about 21.3 months from the time of filing an FIR to judgment by various sessions courts in rape cases, while for murder, the duration for the same process was 24.7 months.

It pointed out that against a sanctioned strength of 50,465 personnel for the Mumbai police, only 41,955 were working as on March this year.