This is my first post wherein I will try to analyze the data available on a subject. The subject is Crimes against Women in India. After the Nirbhaya tragedy, there was a deluge of media reports and news stories about crimes against women. What I wanted to know is - has the crime rate against women really gone up so ridiculously?
From the data snapshot above (hope it is visible), it definitely seems like crime rate has increased. But what is really striking that it rose by about 26.7% in 2013, the year following the Nirbhaya case. The rise in 2014 is 9%. Seems like the Nirbhaya case changed the baseline for reporting of crimes against women. Did crimes against women really jump in 2013? Although, a more reasonable explanation seems to be that more crimes against women were reported.
Take a look at the above data, I have considered the first 4 in the category of sexual offences against women although Kidnapping & Abduction is not considered under sexual offences by NCRB. And although NCRB includes Attempt to Rape under Sexual offences, as this is a new category, I am not including it for analysis. When we look at the data, these offences (the first 4) have risen by 44% in 2013, whereas the rest have risen by 11%. The media attention on these kind of offences seems to have improved the incidence of reporting.
In India, social stigma stops many victims from reporting such crimes. The justice delivery rate of such crimes is a deterrent for many others. Another factor is the data itself, Attempt to Rape, Abetment of Suicide and Domestic Violence cases have only been separately reported since 2014. NCRB states that it follows a 'Principal Offence Rule', meaning that only the most heinous crime will be counted in an individual case / FIR. What it means, I believe, is that if there were a rape and murder, for the purpose of data collection, the murder would be counted and not the rape.
There have been some informative studies and research reports about the status of crimes against women in India and under-reporting of the same. The few I have come across are as below:
Reporting and incidence of violence against women in India - Aashish Gupta
But to answer my original question - have crimes against women really increased? Well, there is not enough quality data to answer that question. We can only pray that may the women of this country remain safe.
Related Links:
Acid Survivors Foundation India - Crimes against Women
Crimes Against Women Reported Every Two Minutes - IndiaSpend article
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