Odisha Bucks National Trend, Registers 10% Rise In Crimes Against Women

Bhubaneswar: The crimes against women graph in Odisha saw an upward swing in 2020 even as the count of such cases in the country fell by 8.3 per cent from 4,05,326 cases in 2019 to 3,71,503 cases registered in 2020, latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data said.

Odisha recorded a crime rate of 112.9 per cent and a percentage rise of 9.95 per cent with 25489 cases in 2020 against 23183 in 2019 and 20274 in 2018, coming a close second to Assam at 154.31, where cases fell to 26352 in 2020 from 30025 in 2019. The charge-sheeting rate in Odisha stood at 82 in 2020 while it was 63.8 for Assam.

Paradise Lost

Odisha saw 1211 rape cases in 2020 against 1383 in 2019, which is a fall of 11.4 per cent, while rape-murders shot to 20 in 2020 against 3 in 2019. Adult rape cases rose to 1194 from 1152 while child rapes declined from 231 to 17. Overall, the state saw over 3 rapes per day on an average.

The acid attack cases doubled to 6 from 3 in 2019.

Odisha topped the country with 12641 cases of assault on women with an intent to outrage their modesty in 2020 against 11318 in 2019.

The state was also at the top in cybercrime involving women with cases witnessing a sharp rise from 390 in 2019 to 526 (292- publishing or transmitting of sexually explicit material and 234 – blackmailing/defamation/morphing/fake profile) in 2020. Odisha alone contributed 22 per cent of the total cases in the country.

There were 320 dowry deaths in 2020 against 342 in 2019 and 16 abetment to suicide of women cases in 2020 against 9 in 2019.

A total of 3659 women complained about cruelty by husband and his relatives. The state saw 3775 kidnapping cases involving fairer sex and 194 among them were abducted for marriage. At least 69 girls were trafficked.

Among the other states that recorded a significant rise in crimes against women are: Bengal from 36439 cases in 2019 to 29859 in 2020; Tamil Nadu from 5934 in 2019 to 6630 in 2020; and Uttrakhand from 2541 in 2020 to 2846 in 2019.

Uttar Pradesh was one of the states showing the sharpest decline, with cases going down from 59,853 in 2019 to 49,385 in 2020. In Delhi, the number fell to 10,093 cases in 2020 from 13,395 cases in 2019.