Women, children knew their rapists in 99% of cases: NCRB

BENGALURU: The threat to women and children in Karnataka doesn’t come from the unknown. The perpetrators in a staggering 99.2% of cases of rape reported in the state in 2016 were known to the women and children involved.
The latest data from the National Crime Records Bureau shows that in 1,642 of 1,655 cases, the perpetrator was known to the survivor.
These cases were booked under section 376 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) which criminalizes rape and sections 4 and 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act which bans penetrative sexual assault and aggravated penetrative sexual assault against minors.
The NCRB data has split the offenders known to their victims into various categories like neighbours, co-workers and family members, among others.

Neighbours proved to the perpetrators in 463 cases of rape, while in 379 cases women were sexually assaulted by men who had promised to marry them.
Relatives (87), close family members (39), employers/coworkers (37), grandfathers, brothers, sons and fathers (16) and live-in partners/husbands
(7) were among the others whose sexually assaulted the women they knew. Only in 13 case of rape of women and children were the offenders strangers.
In Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Lakshadweep and Puducherry, the perpetrators were known to the victims in all the cases.
In New Delhi, the figure stood at 96.4%.
The NCRB data also revealed that women were most vulnerable in their teens. The maximum number (735) of sexual assault victims were in the age group of 16-18 years. The second largest number of victims (418) were 18 to 30 years old. Thirty nine children under the age of six were sexually assaulted in 2016.
“After the Nirbhaya case in 2012, people have shed their inhibitions. They no longer hesitate to come forward and lodge complaints about sexual assault and harassment,” said police commissioner T Suneel Kumar. “Further, the definition of rape has been widened with amendments to the law and police too are prompt to book all cases under the relevant sections,” Suneel Kumar said.
In Karnataka, police do not turn away complainants, he said, adding that women in Bengaluru are more aware and come forward to file complaints. “They no longer ignore lewd comments but insist on action being taken,” Suneel Kumar said.