Offences against women

AHMEDABAD, Aug 5: If Gujarat has brought kudos to the nation by emerging as a state where women have shown great entrepreneurship spirit,...

AHMEDABAD, Aug 5: If Gujarat has brought kudos to the nation by emerging as a state where women have shown great entrepreneurship spirit, it has yet to curb the rise in offences against the fair sex.

Statistics of various offences against women in Gujarat, during the first half of the year, reveal that though, number of rape cases and marriage of minor girls are on decline in urban pockets, cases of torture have increased by a shocking 25 per cent.

The maximum number of cases to go unreported are eve-teasing and molestation cases, where the police and the victim both are lax. As a result, only 256 cases of molestation, 60 more than the previous first six months and 58 cases of eve-teasing, about eight more than those during the same period, were registered with the police.

Policemen express helplessness by saying that until reported, these cases never come to their knowledge. Besides, the victims try to avoid complaining against the culprits due to fear of infamy.

In several villages of Gujarat,people still avoid contacting the police for normal complaints especially the cases involving girls.

Figures of torture and accidental deaths involving women disclose that till June 1998, 1,440 cases were registered in various police stations against 1,084 during the same time the previous year. About 356 more cases were registered this year. Statistics further disclose that during 1997, a total 2,415 cases of women8217;s being torture were with the police for investigation. This year, officials admit, the number will go much higher.

However, the officers express happiness over the decrease in the number of rape and child marriage cases and claim that a 10 per cent decline in the murder cases has also been registered during the same period.

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But, the cause for concern also is the increase in number of accidental deaths. Police say, in the first half of the year, it has increased to 42.2 per cent. Some cases are registered as suicides.

Police say, in most of the accident deaths, family members are the mainconspirator. In several such cases, in-laws and their close relatives are apparently involved but, due to lack of evidence and disinterest of the victims parents, no case is made against them.