Bihar: Fall in overall crime against women, but rise in rape cases

PATNA: Though Bihar registered 17.3% fall in the cases of crime against women last year compared to 2019, there was 10.4% rise in rape incidents and 87% in cases of assault on women with an intent to outrage her modesty in 2020, according to the the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) figures released recently.
As per the report, 806 rape cases were registered in the state in 2020 against 730 in 2019, whereas 110 cases of attempt to commit rape and 584 incidents of assault with intention of outraging modesty were reported last year compared to 69 and 312 cases, respectively, in 2019.
However, a total of 15,359 cases of crime against women were reported under the IPC or under the Special and Local Laws (SLL) across the state last year, compared to 18,587 in 2019 and 16,920 in 2018. Crime against women cases include that of rape, outraging modesty, dowry deaths and harassment, acid attacks and kidnapping.
With 6,671 incidents of kidnapping of women, Bihar was among the top three states after Uttar Pradesh (9,109) and West Bengal (7,740). Of them, 5,378 were kidnapped on the pretext of marriage, including 2,758 minor girls.
As per the NCRB data, 790 victims were raped by known persons, 132 by family members and only 16 by unknown perpetrators of the crime.
Law officer (home department) Vivek Kumar Gupta told this newspaper that it is a social problem. “There are many laws for the protection of women but the problem is at the implementation level. Several changes have been made in Section 354 (whoever assaults or uses criminal force on any woman, intending to outrage her modesty) of the IPC, but until the people’s mindset changes, it is not possible to chck such crime,” he said, adding that education is necessary.
A city-based psychologist, Dr Binda Singh, said the cases of cruelty on women by husbands or his family members have increased during the Covid-19 lockdown. “Every day, we come across such cases and help the victims fight for their rights. In many cases, I have seen that women are afraid of lodging complaints because of the fear of society, insecurity and inability to make a decision. Even the educated women are not able to raise their voice against the violence due to fear. In many cases, even the family does not support the victim. A 16-year-old girl was abused by her uncle but her mother did not support the victim saying who will earn if they lodged a complaint against the only earning member of the family,” she said.
Among the other cases of crime against women, 1,583 were registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, of which 628 were rape cases and the remaining of sexual assault and harassment. Bihar has reported the maximum 106 cases out of the 553 across the country in which kids were used for pornography or storing child porn.