BENGALURU: There are no incidents of rape of girls below 18 years of age in Karnataka, the recently released ‘Crime In India - 2021’ report by National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) states. Neither are there any cases of minor girls being raped in the NCRB report for 2020.
However, activists and government officials disagree, calling this highly improbable, incorrect and wrongly reported. Many cases occur on a day-to-day basis but officers refuse to file cases, with the rate of conviction really low, said Gowri, who works with the NGO Mahila Munnade, Karnataka. She called the NCRB report “untrue and extremely disappointing”. She said the reason behind zero per cent rapes in the report could be because the state wants to keep up the show of a good reputation.
The NCRB report 2020 also showcased zero per cent incidence of rape cases for girls below 17 years of age. An official from Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), Karnataka, did not agree with zero incidence of rapes, adding that it was impossible even at the gram panchayat level not to report such cases. She blamed the police and officials for under-reporting of rape cases. The state again saw a rise in cases when the Covid-19 began to wane, with 14,468 cases of crime against women. Deputy Commissioner of Police Sharanappa SD attributed low number of crimes in 2020 to Covid, and said the rise in number of cases was good, as it meant more people came forward and reported crimes.
Akkai Padmashali, an activist from Karnataka Janashakthi, said women were in distress during the pandemic as they had nowhere to go, and the cases reported only fell through due to it. She said “there is an extreme amount of violence happening, and women are being swayed by the so-called right-wing ruling government”.
ICDS official said most officials lack social responsibility, and even if cases of child marriage or other such crimes occurred, they were not reported due to this factor, and the complainants were often sent away, stating that they did not fall under their jurisdiction.