403 crimes, 0 convictions: Mallika uncovers A’bad cops’ record

Over 400 criminal cases, including 36 involving rape, and zero convictions: this disquieting record of the Ahmedabad police was uncovered by activist and cultural figure Mallika Sarabhai, after she filed an RTI query. The startling numbers relate to the crimes that were committed in Ahmedabad city in the first six months of 2009.

The information provided by the police department reveals that, till June 19, 2009, there were 26 cases of murder and 241 cases of loot of women in the city. Also, 36 cases of rape were registered in the city in the same period. Strangely, the guilty in none of these cases has been convicted as yet.

The data has been provided by the office of the DIG (Women’s Cell), CID (crime) and government railway police, Meera Ramnivas.

In her application dated June 19, 2009, Sarabhai had sought information on crimes against women in the state, including rape, loot and murder, and had also wanted to know whether the accused in the cases had been convicted.

Commenting on the data provided by the police, Sarabhai said that it was really surprising that Gujarat was thought to be a safe state for women. “Besides the low number of convictions,  there are also cases of women disappearing,” she alleged.