Women safety in the national Capital continues to be a cause of concern with 2,029 cases of rape being reported till December 30 even as police launched a number of initiatives to control crime against women.
However, the Delhi Police records that rape cases came down in 2016 as compared to the corresponding period. According to the official data available with the Delhi Police, in 2015 from January 1 till December 31, 2069 cases of rape were registered while in 2016, 2,029 cases were registered, indicating a dip of 1.93 per cent.
The gangrape of 20-year-old girl, who was on a job hunt, allegedly in a car in South Delhi’s Moti Bagh area in third week of December, was a grim reminder that women continue to be soft targets.
There was no let-up in the attacks on women. The brutal stabbing of a 21-year-old girl in Burari in September last by a stalker and the video of the shocking incident left people horrified. Crime against women continued to rise and a number of brutal rape and assault cases kept police on its toes though it managed to solve some of them in quick time.
What has been more revealing that out of the 2,029 cases reported in the national Capital, maximum cases were registered at the Aman Vihar police station in outer Delhi where 60 rape cases were reported followed by Mehrauli (48) and Shahbad Dairy (41).
Apart from rape cases, the data shows that cases of missing of women too dipped in 2016. In 2015, from January 1 till December 31, 5,328 cases were registered by the Delhi Police while in 2016, during the same time period, 4,005 cases were reported. As per the latest data available with the Delhi Police, cases of abduction of women too reduced. In 2015, 1,119 cases of abduction were registered with police while in 2016, 624 cases were reported. This clearly indicates that there has been a 44. 34 per cent decline in the number of abduction cases.
Apart from a brutal murder of a young woman in North Delhi, 2016 witnessed a large of suicide cases especially of women due to dowry and domestic violence. According to the data, cases registered under Section 304 B of the Indian Penal Code, dowry death saw a spurt. In 2015, a total of 122 cases of dowry deaths were registered, out of which 115 cases were registered till November 30. While in 2016, from January 1 till November 30, 153 cases were reported.
In September, a 30-year-old woman allegedly committed suicide at her IP Extension residence after she was allegedly harassed by her husband and in laws for dowry. Police consequently arrested her husband and his parents.
