Bangalore may be proud of its achievements in various fields, but its glory is dimmed by the number of crimes against women. A recent National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report shows that Bangalore is slowly emerging as the crime capital of the country.
The NCRB-2011 report ranks Bangalore second, after Delhi, in terms of incidence and rate of crime against women during 2011, as compared to other major cities.
The number of crimes against women, including molestation, rape, immoral trafficking, dowry deaths, cruelty by husband and indecent representation of women, stood at 1,890 in 2011, as against 1,570 in 2010.
Women activists say failure of policing system and implementation of laws, increasing migration of people to urban areas are the causes.
“There is a disillusion with the judicial and police systems. We need an alternative system of justice and political will to make laws more effective,” said Donna Fernandes of Vimochana, a women’s rights organisation. As many as 74 per cent of the rape victims were in the age group of 17-30 years, and 52 per cent of the offenders were either relatives or neighbours of the victims.
However, taking a different view, ADGP (Crime), Bangalore, A M Prasad said cases had increased because of the growing awareness among people. “Assaults on women have increased because of matrimonial disputes. People file false rape cases if marriage proposals break up. We are also giving gender-sensitivity training for policemen to handle such cases,” Prasad added.