One rape was reported every 15 minutes in India in 2018
According to the data released by National Crime Records Bureau, 33,356 incidents of rape were reported in 2018 in India, and every fourth victim was a minor.
According to data released by National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), a total of 33,356 incidents of rape were reported during 2018.
NCRB, which is governed by the Ministry of Home Affairs, reported that the numbers have barely changed since 2017, when 32,559 rape cases were registered. In 2016, this number stood at 38,947.
This means that one rape was reported every 15 minutes in the country in the year.
Out of the 33,977 victims, every fourth victim was a minor while more than 50 percent of them were them in the age category of 18 to 30 years, shows the data.
In the case of minor victims, 4,779 were aged above 16 years and below 18 years, followed by 3,616 who were between 12 and 16 years, 757 were between six years and 12 years, and 281 were below six years.
17,636 of the victims were aged between 18 and 30 years, 6,108 were above 30 and below 45 years, 727 were above 45 and below 60 years, and 73 victims were above 60 years, data showed.
According to the data, in 94 percent of these cases, the offenders were known to the victims. In 15,972 cases, the offenders were either family friends or a neighbour or employer or an acquaintance, while in 12,568 cases, the offenders were friends or online friends or live-in partners or a separated husband.
Statewise, Madhya Pradesh reported the most number of rape cases – 5,433. It was followed by Rajasthan (4,335), Uttar Pradesh (3,946), Maharashtra (2,142), Chhattisgarh (2,091), Kerala (1,945), Assam (1,648), Delhi (1,215), Haryana (1,296), Jharkhand (1,090), and West Bengal (1,069).
The case disposal rate of the police has remained poor and that of courts has worsened in recent years. The report released last week shows that charges were filed in 85 percent of these cases, whereas the conviction rate remained low at only 27 percent.
A study by the Centre for Law and Policy Research in 2015 found that fast-track courts were indeed quicker, but did not handle a high volume of cases. A 2016 study by Partners for Law in Development in New Delhi also found that courts took an average of 8.5 months per case, which is more than four times the recommended rate.
These statistics can be understating the number of rapes as it is still considered a taboo to report rape in some parts of India and also because rapes that end in murder are counted purely as murders.
(Edited by Saheli Sen Gupta)
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