Assam reported a total of 1791 cases of rape in the year 2019, out of which 88 were on minor girls below the age of 18 years. When calculated, this means that on an average, five women/girls in Assam were raped each day of the year.
Assam also reported 448 instances of attempt to rape and 27 instances of murder with rape/ gang rape.
On October 1, Lakhimpur Police of Assam arrested one Gobin Sarma for raping two minor girls.
Reportedly, the accused tried to rape a 13-year-old girl at No. 2 Parbatipur village near Banderdewa inside his Tata Magic vehicle at the Dikrong river bank. The victim informed that she along with her elder sister was picked up by Sarma at Itanagar bus stop while waiting to travel to Namsai. He first raped the elder sister and dropped her from the vehicle on NH-15. He was caught by some locals while attempting to rape the younger sister.
However, this isn’t a loan incident of rape in Assam. Many such incidences were reported from different parts of the state during the year 2019.
Commenting on the sad picture that the report paints about Assam, an official from the All Women Police Station told G Plus, “For a rape victim, it's not easy to go to a station where so many men in uniform are present around her, and open up about the incident. Thus, these numbers do not reflect the actual number of cases that occur. These are only the ones that have been reported.”
National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) reported 32,033 rape cases across India which translates to a shocking 88 rape cases a day. However, experts say that picture could be far worse as most such crimes go unreported in the country.
Rajasthan reported the highest number of rapes with 5,997 cases, followed by UP (3,065) and Madhya Pradesh (2,485).
It should be mentioned that the conviction rate for rape in the year 2019 was below 30%, which means that out of 100 cases reported, only 30 saw convictions. Absence of forensic labs, fast-track courts and investigators are also partly responsible for this.
Assam reports highest crime rate against women for third consecutive year
While Delhi is infamous for crimes against women, it is Assam which has topped the chart for rate of crime against women in the country for the third consecutive year, as per the 2019 National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) figures.
Compared to 2018, the rate of crime against women in India has risen by 7.3%, with the country recording an average of 87 rape cases every day in 2019.
Rate of crime against women in Assam stood at 177.8 for 2019, almost three times the national average rate of 62.4. Delhi was placed second on the list of shame with a crime rate of 144, followed by Lakshwadeep at 115.2 and Rajasthan at 110.4.
In 2017, the rate of crime against women in Assam was 143.3 against the national figure of 57.9. Subsequently in 2018, the rate of crime against women in Assam stood at 166, almost three times the national average rate of 58.8.
Crime rate is calculated as the number of crimes recorded per one lakh population.
Assam has been witnessing a year-on-year increase in crime rate. In 2016, 20,896 cases of crimes against women were registered in the state. The number increased to 23,082 in 2017 and further to 27,728 in 2018, which was 7.3% of all crimes against women in India that year. In 2019, Assam reported a total of 30,025 cases of crimes against women.
UP reported the highest number of crimes against women (59,853), accounting for 14.7 per cent of such cases across the country. It was followed by Rajasthan (41,550 cases; 10.2 per cent) and Maharashtra (37,144 cases; 9.2 per cent).
"Majority of cases under crime against women under IPC were registered under ‘cruelty by husband or his relatives’ (30.9%), followed by ‘assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty’ (21.8%), ‘kidnapping & abduction of women’ (17.9%) and ‘rape’ (7.9%). The crime rate registered per lakh women population is 62.4 in 2019 in comparison with 58.8 in 2018,” says the NCRB report.