Bhopal: The state, which had been news for all wrong reason as far as women and girl security was concerned, saw a decline in crime against women in year 2018. Good policing and stringent law helped in bringing down the crime graph in the state, however, there results are far from satisfactory and more need to be done to bring the perpetrators to book.
Madhya Pradesh, which reported highest number of rapes in the nation, became the first state in the country to pass an Act awarding death sentence to those found guilty of raping girls aged 12 and below. For last many years, state had witnessed rise in cases of violence against women including sexual harassment, molestation and kidnapping were high in state, however, the year 2018 saw a drop in crime against women.
While the year saw a slight rise in rape cases, incidents of molestation, eve teasing and dowry dropped significantly. The state which was witnessing sharp rise in rape incidents by around 15 per cent in last few years saw a drop in cases by 9 per cent in 2018. In 2018, 4590 rape cases were reported, one per cent increase in comparison to the previous year.
In 2017, as many as 4541 rape cases were reported. The year 2016 saw 3951 cases and in 2015, 4139 cases of sexual assaults were registered. The cases of eve teasing came down to 9300 last year as compared to 2017 during which 9800 cases were reported. ADG crime against women, Anvesh Manglam speaking to Free Press about the Act entailing capital punishment to the rapist, said that Act has been was passed but “it would be too early to assess the impact of the Act in the society”.
“It’s true that crime against women has dropped in the state. Last year 21 rapists were awarded capital punishment and more than 250 rape convicts were given life term imprisonment,” said the officer. “A significant drop in the section 498-A cases is also seen, it pertains to dowry. Around 36 per cent drop has been witnessed in dowry cases,” he added.
A significant drop was seen in molestation cases too. In all 9500 cases of molestation were registered in 2018, a year previous had witnessed 10,581 cases, almost 40 per cent rise from 2016. Then 8856 cases were registered, a year previous- 2015 saw registration of 9234 cases.
