Maharashtra
Profile on Crime Against Women: Rape
Leena Mehendale, IAS
The crime of rape can be considered
the most heinous crime against a woman barring perhaps only her murder. The character of any society is decided by
the dignity of the women in the society and the security that women get against
the crime of rape. A continuous watch
on the situation of rape crimes is therefore of immense importance.
According to the crime statistics
published by National Crime Records Bureau, more than 15000 women get raped in
one year. The investigation,
presentation before the courts and the actual justice delivery are processes
that are enormously delayed. According
to the Crime Report of 1998, as many as 5793 cases were pending with the police
for investigation on 1.1.1999. Those
pending in the courts on that date were 48685.
It is further noteworthy that out of nearly 10,000 rape cases decided by
the courts in 1998 only 2577 were convicted.
This means that compared with pending cases the conviction rate is as
low as 5 percent. The lower punishment
even in convicted cases is a matter of further worry.
·
Total population in 1996 (mid-decade
projection) = 99.09 crores
·
Total crimes registered under IPC in 1998 = 17.80 lacs
·
Rate of crime
= 183 crimes per lac of population
·
For Maharashtra the rate of crime was 202
crimes per lac of population. This is
higher than the all India average.
·
Total rape cases registered in the entire
country in 1998 = 15,031
·
Rate of crime
= 155 rape cases per one crore of population
·
The rate of rape cases for Maharashtra in 1998
was 124 per one crore of the population which is lower than the all India
average.
·
Considering that only women are victims of
rape, the rate of crime actually stands at double the above values.
2. On analyzing the available data about
rapes committed in Maharashtra during the last 10 years, one comes up with some
important findings which need to be considered by all those who are actively
working for reducing crime against women, especially rape.
Specially, following points can be
noted.
·
There are more than thousand rape cases per
year in Maharashtra.
·
During the last ten years, a total of 11,675
rapes were committed.
·
Taking
the 1996 population which was 9.27 crores, the average rate of rape
crimes was 126 per one crore.
·
One disturbing fact that comes to the notice
is a sudden increase in the number of rape cases in majority of the districts
during the year 1996.
Out of the 30 districts, then
existing, only the districts of Ratnagiri, Kolhapur, Sangli, Nanded and
Osmanabad have not shown an increase during 1996. These are also the districts registering a small number and a smaller
rate of rapes. It should be a matter of
more detailed study by the police, the sociologists and the NGOs as to why the
1996 figures of rape are so high. What
new situations or trends came up then which resulted in such a sharp increase
in the number of rapes?
The trend of sudden jump has started
in 1995 itself. The districts of
Mumbai, Thane, Nasik, Amravati registered very high increase compared to rape
crimes committed during 1994.
The total number of rapes committed
during the year 2000 is nearly 1400 which means that the number has once again
reached the level of 1996.
All this will be seen from the line
graph at Fig.1.
The above analysis speaks of rape
cases in terms of absolute numbers. It
can facilitate the government to decide upon the quantum of deployment of
suitable investigative machinery, police personnel, computerization, better
forensic facility, higher budget, closer monitoring, etc. in problem
districts. A sociologist, however, is
concerned more with the rate of crimes. Different districts have smaller or bigger
geographical area and higher or lower population. Hence for a comparison, rate of crime provides a different
variety of indicators. A district
having lower population but higher number of rapes, is definitely a bigger
problem to the sociologists and they need to investigate the reasons for higher
criminal mentality.
3. Crime
rate
On carrying out the analysis of crime
rate, it was found that -
·
Throughout the decade, the districts of
Raigarh, Kolhapur, Sangli and Satara have remained the districts of low crime
rate as well as lower rate of number of rapes.
These are also the districts where the rate in 1996 is lower than the 10
year average.
·
In Ratnagiri the rates have steadily and
steeply gone up, while in Latur and Gadchiroli it has steeply come down.
·
Sudden jumps, by more than double are seen
between 1998 and 1999 in Nanded, Beed and Osmanabad.
·
Nagpur and Amravati have a very high share in
rapes, much beyond their share in population.
In that order, the real culprit districts appear to be Nagpur, Amravati,
Bhandara, Yavatmal, Chandrapur, Wardha and Gadchiroli; while Thane also shares
a little more in rapes than in population.
·
By and large, all the five districts of Nagpur
Division and the two districts Amravati and Yavatmal from Amravati Division
have shown a very large number of rapes as well as a very high rate of this
criminality.
The districts Gadchiroli and
Chandrapur that are predominantly tribal districts have very high rate of
rapes. Given the general feeling that
the crime incidence of rape is lower among tribal, this calls for a more
detailed study of those who were victims.
Fig. 2 gives the share of each
district in the total number of rapes, whereas fig. 3 and 4 are grade maps of
Maharashtra showing the rate of rape and the total number of rapes respectively
in various districts.
4. Urban Scenario
Maharashtra has a very high rate of
urbanization. Part of it is also caused
by large scale migration from other states and higher rate of
industrialization. Quite contrary to
the common perception, the urban scenario regarding rapes is not worse than the
rural scenario. Instead we have a mix
of evidence which is discussed below :-
·
A comparison is also made between the rapes
committed in rural and urban areas.
Chart 7 give a comparison of rapes committed in major cities of
Maharashtra, namely, Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Solapur, Nasik, Aurangabad and
Amravati.
The total rapes committed in these
cities during the last 10 years are 29% of total rapes in Maharashtra while the
total population of these cities was 32% of the total population of Maharashtra
in 1996. A comparison between the
crimes committed in the whole of the district and those committed in the city
alone show that Pune city contributed for 60% of the total crimes in Pune
district, while Nagpur city contributed 48% of rapes in Nagpur district. This proportion was 49% in Thane city
(vis-a-vis Thane district), 46% in Aurangabad city, 41% in Solapur city, 26% in
Nasik and 18% in Amravati city. A
Comparison of these figures with the female literacy rate shows that all the
cities have a fairly high female literacy rate. Surely, the reasons for high rate of rapes cannot be attributed to lack of education alone.
The reason is perhaps to be searched
in terms of industrialization v/s agro-based economy, tribal population, low
economic growth, a larger divide between high and low income groups and so on.
·
Another important feature is a comparison of
percentages of urban to total rapes vs. urban to total population of these
districts. Pune, Solapur and Aurangabad
have more rapes in urban areas than the urban population share whereas Thane,
Nagpur, Nashik and Amravati have more rapes in rural areas. The rural parts of all these 4 districts
have a larger tribal population. This
is also a pointer. Once again, more
detailed studies as to who were victims and who were accused is needed.
·
Which districts have lowest rural female
literacy rates? These are the districts
of Marathwada Division, namely, Aurangabad, Jalna, Parbhani, Nanded, Beed,
Latur and Osmanabad; all having less than 30% rural female literacy. Except Gadchiroli, no other district has
such low rates of rural female literacy and yet, by and large, these are
districts of low rape rate except the highly industrial city of Aurangabad.
5. On comparing the incidence of rapes with
the incidence of total crimes in a district, it is seen that -
·
The districts of Ratnagiri, Raigarh, Sangli
and Kolhapur have low incidence of total crimes as well as of rape.
·
In contrast Gadchiroli and Bhandara,
Sindhudurg and Ahmadnagar have a low incidence of total crimes but very high
incidence of rapes.
·
Nanded, Akola, Parbhani and Beed show low rate
of rapes but high rate of total crime.
·
Amravati, Yavatmal, Wardha have high rates in
both.
6. So we can see what kind of analysis and
implementation strategy is possible.
The existing crime records give us some district specific clues and
recommendations. For example, it
suggests that -
(i) The Home Deptt. of Maharashtra may
immediately take a review of their police strength and efficiency of
investigation including preventing measures in the Nagpur and Amravati
divisions so as to control the higher rate of rapes in these Divisions.
(ii) Ratnagiri has shown a sharp increase
in 1998. The reasons for such increase
in an otherwise peace-loving and women- respecting district like Ratnagiri need
to be searched. This can be taken up by
the Supdt. of Police of Ratnagiri.
(iii) Special efforts are needed to reduce
the higher rate of crime in Amravati (Rural) and Nagpur (both urban and rural).
(iv) Special study sould be undertaken to
find out the socio-economic profile of the victims and the accused in the
tribal blocks of Amravati and Nagpur divisions, as well as in tribal blocks of
Nashik and Thane districts.
It
will be worthwhile to compare this data with the situation in Dhule which is
also predominantly tribal district but with low rate of rapes. It is pertinent to note that the tribals of
Dhule district have slightly better land-holdings than the tribals of other
districts of Maharashtra.
7. In all the above analysis two factors are
not being considered. In many cases of
rapes the societical conditions and the fear of stigma on the victim girl
prevent her and her family from making a complaint to the police. In many cases they are also afraid of the
humiliating manner and questions that are asked by police and therefore refrain
from making a complaint. In many more
cases the police closes the complaint without registering FIR and without
making further investigation butby stating that there was not enough evidence
to proceed with the cases. More cases
of first two types will come to light by a better awareness and sensitization
programmes and support systems which can be provided by the NGOs. For taking case of the third type of cases,
which are commonly called “NC” cases, it should be made compulsory for the
police to register FIR for each and every case of complaint of rape made to
them and bring up it before the court whatever be the preliminary
findings. It should also be compulsory to report of this data on
a monthly basis to NCRB who should then publish the same in their annual
reports. A comparison of the number of
crimes recorded and the number of “cases closed without investigation” can be a
key indicator about the working of the police in the district.
8. Surprisingly the district of
Ahmadnagar as compared to other districts was comparatively a low crime
district (as far as rape was concerned) except during 1996. This image of Ahmadnagar will now remain
shattered forever in the wake of recent incidence of collective and multiple
rapes committed by young dacoits on the women of village Kothewadi. This was a case of a gang rape as well as
mass rape which was so far unheard of in Maharashtra and can be considered as
the most obnoxious crime. It has so
far, also eluded all explanations of traditional types. The gory details of the incidence are
indicative of the new methods and psyche being brought into crime scenario by
the media depictions of women.
9. Some new aspects and some theoretical
questions go beyond the analysis of the data -
(I) There is a sharp increase in organized
rape and sexual exploitation of women.
The incidence like mass rapes in Kothewadi is likely to repeat. It will require a very different and
concerted approach to prevent any such incidence in future. It is quite obvious that such thinking and
efforts have not yet started.
(II) In recent past, we have also faced the sex
scandals in Jalgaon (in 1994) and Satara (2001) in which women were given
temptation of jobs, were lured into sexual act and their photographs were taken
in compromising situations and they were subjected to further repeated
blackmails, rape and other forms of sexual exploitation. Such a criminal activity went on for a long
period of one to two years involving several girls who were victimized and
several males who had organized such victimization. These cases came to light only after long periods had elapsed and
therefore became difficult to prove even though their gravity was much higher.
(III) Perhaps the worst was not over. In Parbhani district, we heard the case of
one girl student being called by her several teachers to give her the “most
expected questions” for the next day’s.
She was gangraped by her own teachers.
This incidence strikes at the very root of Indian culture where it is
believed that true knowledge comes only through a very pure relationship and
understanding between the teacher and the student.
10. Although the cases of gang rapes, mass
rapes and scandals like the above have started occuring with alarming
frequency, the police has not yet started maintaining separate or specialised
investigations. This must be started
immediately so that the problem is monitored properly and its solution is tried
early.
11. It must be mentioned that this article is
meant to analyse only the profile of crimes against women which are brought up
to the police. It does not discuss the
questions of -
(i) Poor rate of conviction.
(ii) Enormous delay in justice delivery.
(iii) Attitude and ethical/legal
responsibility of the defence lawyers.
(iv) Efficiency or otherwise of the
prosecution machinery.
(v) Inadequate monitoring by the apex
courts.
(vi) Inadequate and at times faulty
examination by the forensic agencies.
(vii) Faulty investigation and improper
handling or mishandling of the evidence
material by the police.
Each of these aspects are important in
reducing the rate of crime and ensuring proper justice. Each, therefore, merits a separate detailed
study and analysis.
