The Twin City of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack recorded highest 440 crime cases against women in the year 2014 in comparison to cases recorded in previous three years. Briefing reporters after the annual crime review meeting held here, Commissioner of Police Dr RP Sharma said the Twin City recorded 440 cases of crimes against women, including rape, kidnapping, 498-A, eve-teasing and molestation, in 2014 against 320 recorded in 2013, an increase of 36.36 per cent.
Dr Sharma said despite counselling and playing of a video documentary on women safety, the Twin City has recorded 70 per cent rise in rape cases in 2014. While 81 rapes were reported in 2013, the number rose to 138 in 2014. Minors are the worst affected, he added. In Bhubaneswar Urban Police District (UPD), there were 72 rape cases reported in 2014 against 51 in 2013, 56 in 2012 and 35 in 2011. Whereas in Cuttack UPD, there were 66 rape cases in 2014 against 30 in 2013, 28 in 2012 and 19 in 2011.
However, the Commissioner said there had been a significant improvement in the detection rate which stood at 98 per cent last year. Police statistics also show that the numbers of 498-A, molestation and eve-teasing cases have increased as well. Twin City recorded 143 498-A cases, 159 (molestation and eve-teasing) cases in 2014 as against 88 and 151 cases in 2013.
Similarly, 295 kidnapping cases were registered in 2014 against 206 in 2013. The Commissioner said the Commissionerate Police is not relenting and is constantly upgrading its methods and techniques to reduce crimes against women and provide a safer environment for them. However, the Twin City saw a slight decrease in the number of murder cases with 78 cases reported in 2014 against 83 in 2013. The CP said the detection rate was 93.5 and 98.55 in 2014 and 2013, respectively.
The major challenges for Commissionerate Police now are the shortage of manpower, need for greater public sensitisation about security and safety measures and greater use of technology in crime control and detection. “We require a total of 119 police officers (6 Inspectors, 103 Sub-Inspectors and 10 Assistant Sub-inspectors) to handle crime cases in Twin City as per population. A proposal has been sent to the State Government to increase manpower,” Sharma said.
A total of 9,229 cognisable and excise cases have been registered in Twin City in 2014 as against 9,109 cases in 2013, 8147 cases in 2012 and 6,765 cases in 2011, the CP said.