Every week there are 5 rape-murders in the country, most in UP, study reveals the dark truth of crimes against women

New Delhi : Amid the brutal rape and murder of a female doctor in a government hospital in Kolkata, a new report has emerged on crimes against women. Recently, there has been a lot of public outrage in Kolkata as well as other states over cases of sexual harassment. Meanwhile, the new report analyzed the data of the National Crime Records Bureau on cases of murder after rape/gangrape. 1,551 cases were registered under this category between 2017 and 2022. In this way, 5 cases of murder after rape occurred every week in the country during the last six years.

Most cases in UP

The highest number of 294 rape/gangrape and murder cases were registered in 2018. The lowest number of 219 cases were registered in 2020. This number was 223 in 2017. 283 rape/gangrape and murder cases were registered in 2019. The number of such cases was 284 in 2021. Whereas, 248 such cases were registered in 2022. State-wise data for six years showed that UP registered the highest number of cases (280). It was followed by Madhya Pradesh (207), Assam (205), Maharashtra (155) and Karnataka (79).

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Different category in NCRB since 2017

The report said that an analysis by the non-profit Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative showed that looking at a total of 1,551 cases, this represents an average of a little over 258 cases per year. In other words, on average, about five cases (4.9) of rape/gang-rape followed by murder were reported every week between 2017-2022. The NCRB has started reporting data on murder after rape/gang-rape as a separate category in its annual ‘Crime in India’ report since 2017.

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Cases in court increased by 132%

As far as outcomes are concerned, of the 308 cases in which trial was completed, a little less than two-thirds (65%) of the cases (200) resulted in conviction. In more than one-third of the cases, the outcome was either acquittal (6%) or discharge of the accused (28%). The conviction rate was the lowest in 2017 (57.89%). It was the highest in 2021 (75%) and 69% in 2022. NCRB data showed that the number of cases of rape/murder with gang rape before trial courts increased year on year during the study period. The total number of cases (backlog plus new cases sent for trial) was the lowest in 2017 (574 cases). It rose steadily to 1,333 by 2022, an increase of 132%.

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Police insist on closing the case

CHRI director Venkatesh Nayak said it is extremely worrying that in a large number of cases, the police filed a final report instead of a chargesheet after completion of investigation. 140 cases of rape/gangrape with murder were closed with a final report during a period of six years. Of these, 97 were closed due to insufficient evidence to prosecute the accused for rape/gangrape with murder. The NCRB captures this data in respect of cases where the police investigation could not gather sufficient evidence to prosecute the accused or where the accused could not be traced, or the complaint was found to be false. Also where the case ended up as a mistake of fact or law or the issue was in the nature of a civil dispute.
In four of the 6 years under study, the chargesheeting rate was above 90%, even during the pandemic years. The success rate dropped below 90% in 2018 (87%) and more recently in 2022 (85%). However, the findings also show that the police have not been able to complete investigations in 32-49% of cases of murder along with rape/gangrape during this period.