Crimes against women and children in Delhi is on rise

This was stated by Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju in a written reply to Motilal Vora in the Rajya Sabha  on Wednesday. 

 

As per information provided by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) there has been rise in number of registered cases of crimes against women and children in Delhi and NCR in recent times. 

 

In NCT Delhi, there has been a spurt in rape cases from 706 in 2012 to more than double at 1636 last year while cases of assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty have spiked five times, from 727 to 3515 and total registered Crimes against Women have more than doubled from 5920 to 12853 cases during the same periods. In Delhi and NCR while total registered Crimes against Women rose from 11419 in 2011 to 12288, the figure nearly doubled last year at 21887. 

 

There are various reasons (societal, economic etc.) for rise in crimes against women and children. The spurt in registration of cases in 2013 can be attributed to enactment of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013 whereby non-registration of cases by police u/s 166A of IPC has been designated as criminal offence. 

 

The President of India on April 02, 2013 has consented to the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act 2013, which has come into force since 3rd Feb, 2013 on crimes against women. It has enhanced punishment for crimes like rape, sexual harassment, stalking, voyeurism, acid attacks, indecent gestures like words and inappropriate touch etc. The new laws have provisions for increased sentence for rape convicts, including life-term and death sentence, besides providing for stringent punishment for offences such as acid attacks, stalking and voyeurism. The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, that has come into effect from November 14, 2012, is a special law to protect children from sexual abuse and exploitation. 

 

The Ministry of Home Affairs has sanctioned a total of Rs. 321.69 crore out of the Nirbhaya Fund to implement emergency response system to attend calls from women in distress and provide them immediate assistance. 

 

The Ministry of Home Affairs has adopted a multi-pronged strategy to counter human trafficking. In pursuance of this objective, Ministry of Home Affairs has established a total number of 225 Anti-Human Trafficking Units (AHTUs) in various districts of the country. 

 

To create a mechanism for tracking ‘missing’ and ‘found’ children, the Ministry of Women and Child Development has developed a national portal called ‘TrackChild’ which has data on ‘missing’ and ‘found’ children.