Mir Farhat
Srinagar, June 20: A day after a minor girl was allegedly gang raped by four men in Baramulla district, the incident has indicated a surge in such cases against women, including minor girls.
Police sources said Jammu and Kashmir has registered 378 rape cases in 2013, which corresponds to seven rapes every week and is an increase of 75 cases from the total of preceding year.
“277 rape cases were registered in 2011, while the number had shot up to 303 in 2012,” sources said.
Besides, sexual violence against women including molestation and harassment has also gone up since 2009, with around 900 such cases reported every year.
Official data with police says that 759 incidents of molestation and harassment were reported in year 2008.
In 2009, 823 cases of harassment and molestation were reported by police. The number of such incidents has risen from 1057 in 2012 to 1077 in 2013.
The National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) data mentions that rape on minors in Jammu and Kashmir is on the rise.
“13 child molestation and rape cases were registered in Jammu and Kashmir in 2012. And eight cases of molestation and rape on minors were registered during 2010 while the number was nine and 11 in 2011 and 2012 respectively,” the report said.
Police says that crime against women might be higher than the figures suggest, as only 10 per cent of cases are reported. Often, cases of sexual crimes are unreported either due to remoteness of the location or victims choosing to stay silent out of fear or social stigma.
“In most of such incidents occasions, complaints are filed days after the incident as victims do not inform their ordeal to parents immediately. Or in some cases, the victims even don’t report to parents,” said a police official.
Surge in such incidents has been encouraged by the lack of swift police action and investigation which ultimately results in low conviction of the accused.
“Lack of women police cells in immediate towns also blocks filing of such complaints by the victim as women prefer not to speak before police men in our conservative society,” the official said.
At present, the State has only two women police stations – one each at Jammu and Srinagar which are exclusively run by women police officers. Besides, four women cells are functioning at Anantnag, Baramulla, Udhampur and Rajouri.
The shocking incidents have taken place across the towns and villages in the State.
The Jammu and Kashmir Government had last year, in principle, agreed to incorporate a provision for awarding capital punishment to those convicted of raping a minor or gang rape.
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