New Delhi: The number of rapes in India shot up from 1953 to 2011 by a staggering 873 per cent, the CPI-M's "People's Democracy" said in its latest edition released Thursday. "Sexual crimes against women have been rising alarmingly all across the country," the newspaper said in the wake of the brutal gang-rape of a young woman in a bus in Delhi.
Amongst the metros, it said Delhi topped the list of incidents of rape. From 2007 and 2011, Delhi saw 2,620 rape cases. Comparatively, Mumbai had 1,033, Bangalore 383, Chennai 293 and Kolkata 200 cases. It added that in three of the four cases of rape, the culprits went unpunished between 2002 and 2011 in the national capital. Of the 5,337 rape cases in the last decade, in 3,860 the culprits were either acquitted or discharged by courts for lack of "proper" evidence.
The 873 per cent rise since 1953 to 2011 is three times faster than all cognizable crimes put together and three-and-a-half times faster than murder. And between 2007 and 2011, rape incidents rose by 9.7 per cent.
The People's Democracy quoted the newspaper Guardian as saying: "Of all the G-20 nations, India has been labelled the worst place to be a woman." In a survey conducted by Thomson Reuters' Trust Law Women, a hub of information and support for women's rights, India ranked with Afghanistan, Congo and Somalia as one of the most dangerous places for women.
The conviction rate for the country as a whole, on the average, between 2001 and 2010, in rape cases was 26 per cent only. "Far from fearing a deterrent punishment, the criminals are not afraid of the law any longer, it appears, because of such abysmal record of delivery of justice in the country," the weekly said.
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