New Delhi: A total of 185 women were raped in the national capital in the first five months of this year.
However, police say that the rate of such incidents has come down in the city compared to 2004.
According to Delhi Police statistics, the city recorded 185 rape cases till May 15 this year, up from 170 such incidents reported during the corresponding period last year.
However, this year`s figure was less than those reported in the corresponding period in the past seven years from 2004 except for 2009. In 2004, 195 rapes cases were
reported followed by 232 (2005), 197 (2006), 216 (2007) and 188 (2008).
A senior police official said the rate of rape incidents per one lakh population was coming down in the capital in the past seven years despite an increase in population by 25.49 slakh.
In 2004, Delhi`s population was 1.53 crore while in 2010, it has reached 1.79 crore.
The rate of incidents of rape cases was 3.58 in the 2004 which increased to 4.16 next year. However, it had steadily come down to 3.82 in 2006, 3.57 in 2007, 2.7 in 2008 and 2.65 in 2009, the official said.
"It is clear that inspite of the increase of population by 25.49 lakh from 2004 to 2010, the rate of incidents of rape cases has declined from 3.58 in 2004 to 2.25 this year," the
official said.
The official said the detection rate has significantly improved from 75 percent to 91 percent in comparison to the percentage of last year.
"In almost all cases of rape, the accused were previously known to the victims, which indicates that the rape cases being reported have more to do with the socio-economic
scenario prevailing in the affected pockets.
"The profile of accused persons arrested reveals that 52
percent were illiterate or school dropouts and majority of
them come from the lower strata of society. In 2009, in 97.23
percent of the cases the accused were known to victims," the
official said.
The official said Delhi Police was taking steps to control crimes against women and they have set up helplines.
"We have set up an Anti-Obscene Calls Cell helpline which was launched in December 2008. Out of the 14,630 complaints received so far in the cell, 13,808 were redressed to the satisfaction of the caller," the official said.
The Delhi Police has also recently started an
Anti-Stalking Helpline.
PTI
