For women, it is a jungle out there in cities

Mumbai’s accounts for 9 per cent of crime against women, with offences like trafficking of girls rampant

A rape every six hour, a dowry death every day and two other crimes against women every hour — Maharashtra, which boasts of a glorious history of women’s reforms, has reasons to feel outraged. More so, when the popular perception is, the state is much better when it comes to safety of women.

The figures, coming from the Criminal Investigation Department, are an eye opener. Dowry death cases in the state (only the recorded ones) have seen a rise — 14 per cent. Domestic violence too has gone up by 14 per cent. An incident of cruelty by husbands and his relatives is recorded every two hours.

While the reasons for this growing malaise could be left for the criminologists and psychologists to interpret and debate, the irony is the state once boasted of social reformers like Mahatma Jyotirao Phule, Savitribai Phule, Gopal Ganesh Agarkar, and Maharshi Dhondo Keshav Karve.

Figures do not tell all the facts. The above cases do not include murders, robberies and cases of assault where women can be victims, as these are not categorised as crime against women.

Figures from ‘Crime in Maharashtra - 2006’ reveal that 40 per cent of the crimes against women are recorded in urban areas. Mumbai’s contribution is a 9 per cent. There are certain genre of crimes which are peculiar to Mumbai. Most offences relating to trafficking of girls below 21 (Immoral Traffic Prevention Act) are registered only in cities like Mumbai.

SPS Yadav, additional director general of police, CID, Maharashtra, said, “The escalation in cases of molestation (8 per cent), dowry deaths (14 per cent), and sexual harassment (7 per cent) points to the need for awakening and empowering women in a progressive state like Maharashtra.”

“If you want to determine whether any society is healthy, just go and see how children and old people are treated in it.” Going by this yardstick, Maharashtra qualifies to be a sick state. In 2006, crimes against children went up by 23 per cent compared to the previous year.

Psychologists say it is a reflection on today’s times that excesses against the children are alarmingly up. Official statistics say the number of children raped has gone up by 33.40 per cent in the last five years.

Kidnappings and abductions have gone up by 100.73 per cent. The number of minor girls traded has gone up by 200 per cent compared to the previous year while the number of girls bought and pushed into prostitution has gone up by 283 per cent in just one year.

There are 11 heads under which crimes against children are recorded — Murder (Infanticide and murder), rape, kidnapping and abduction, procurement of minor girls, selling of girls for prostitution, buying of girls for prostitution, abetment of suicide, exposure and abandonment, foeticide, child marriage restraint act and other crimes. But for couple of them, almost all have recorded steep rise.

Yadav makes a specific mention of these cases in the book’s preface. He says: “Crimes against children have recorded a 23% rise compared to the previous year. Police and voluntary organisations should work hand in hand to implement the provisions of The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 and Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005.” Particularly significant is the fact that number of outrage cases (read sodomy) against children are steadily climbing up compared to what are generally known as rape cases.

In 2002, this share was 37.87 per cent while in 2006, it went up to 42.63. This means that almost half the total rape victims are kids.