Is the safety of women in Odisha endangeredIJ Apparently looks so as a whopping 72 per cent of the rapes in the State in 2016 were committed by assaulters who are rank outsiders and unknown to the victims. Moreover, the challenge for the police is Odisha is the only State in the country where such a high proportion of rapes were perpetrated by rogue elements.
This is supposedly a new trend in Odisha because sexual assault by rank outsiders in the State had been a paltry around 1-2 per cent till year 2014.
The first reversal of the trend was observed in 2015 when rapes by rank outsides jumped to 15 per cent. And their target is minor girls.
This is based on the latest report of the National Crime Research Bureau (NCRB).
Significantly, in sync with the new trend, Odisha in 2016 recorded a high of 63 per cent of total rape victims as minor (below 18 years) vis-a-vis a mere 28 per cent in 2013. For this, Odisha nationally is only second to Karnataka with the highest proportion of rapes of minors.
But the only difference is such sexual assaults in Karnataka were perpetrated by abusers known to the girls like neighbours, boyfriends and co-residents whereas in Odisha such known abusers were a mere 28 per cent in 2016.
In this context, the recent circulation of sexual assaults/disrobing MMSs by the rogue elements or, in some cases, the local goons from districts like Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Bargarh, Sundargarh and Ganjam clearly alludes to the growing enormity on the ground.
Data with the police reveal that nearly three-fourths of the rapes of minors have come from around 10 to12 districts like Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Jajpur, Baleswar, Bhadrak, Sundargarh, Puri, Nayagarh, Jharsuguda, Ganjam and, even, State capital headquarters Khordha.
Moreover, the data show the majority of sexual offenders are first-time offenders.
The incidents along with the police data suggest an emboldened mindset of sexual predators in these districts who give two hoots to the law enforcement agencies. And this is exactly the challenge for the State police to instil a fear of law.
According to former member of State Women Commission and social activist Namrata Chadha, it has been observed that such perpetrators are either from influential households in the vicinity or street loafers with political connections and the victims come from meek households.
This is the reason why assaulters keep the women crime graph on the rise. Police reform is the only solution to rein in such rising crimes against women, she asserted.
Notably, the rate of crime in crimes against women in Odisha is exhibiting a rising trend and is the 4th highest nationally with a rate of 77.7 from 69 in 2013.
Another aspect of such rising crimes against women is the poor conviction rate in such cases as Odisha figured the 2nd lowest in the country with a rate of a mere 6 per cent.
Only West Bengal is below with a 3-per cent conviction rate.
The poor conviction rate raises a big question mark on the conduct of investigation, which again reminds the urgency of police reforms further.
VUlNERABlE WOMEN!
*Rogues top perpetrators in State
*Minor girls most vulnerable
*Rape of minors 63% of total
*Conviction 2nd lowest nationally