Only six per cent of the rapes, registered this year, were committed by people unknown to victims, revealed a study conducted by the Mumbai Police. According to police sources, the study was undertaken to understand the nature of rape cases registered in the city. “Our study shows that 71.9 per cent of rape cases registered in the city are incidents of sexual relations with the promise of marriage. Further, in 12.5 per cent cases of rape, the accused are neighbours of the victim, while in 6.7 per cent cases, the accused are the father or the immediate sibling of victim. In 4.97 per cent cases, the accused are relatives of the victim,” Mumbai Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria said Wednesday. The study deals with cases filed from January to October. Maria further said, “Only six per cent of the rape cases registered this year have been committed by people not known to victims. Of these, almost all of the cases registered this year have already been cracked. Only the case of the nine-year-old girl with the Wadala TT police remains unsolved and we are taking regular reviews of the case and working hard on it.” The same study also took a look at other crimes against women, including outraging modesty and harassment for dowry. “It is true that the number of cases of rape and molestation have gone up this year. But this is also because we have issued strict instructions to ensure that FIRs are promptly registered in cases of crime against women,” said Maria. A senior police officer added that when the instructions had first been issued, concerns had been raised that this would lead to a perception among people that crimes against women were on the rise. The police brass, had at the time, however, decided that it would prefer to clear this misconception whenever it arose than deal with allegations of refusal to register FIRs involving crimes against women, sources said. mumbai.newsline@expressindia.com
