Years after Nirbhaya, crimes against women continue to rise

NEW DELHI: The Hyderabad rape-murder case, the Unnao case and the Kathua rape case, have all brought back the focus to the fact that women in India are just not safe. The 26-year-old veterinary doctor was returning home when she was gang-raped and murdered. The Unnao woman was en route to a local court for a hearing of the case when she was set ablaze by five men, two of them accused of raping her in December last year. The woman has suffered "90% burn injuries" and is critical. It is hard to forget the rape and murder of the 8-year-old girl in Rasana village near Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir.These are not lone cases. Since the Nirbhaya case, there have been many such heart-wrenching incidences. The 2017 NCRB report reveals that a total of 3.59 lakh cases of crime against women were registered, up from 3.38 lakh cases in 2016 and 3.29 lakh in 2015. Rape cases make up nearly 10% of crimes committed against women. In 2017, as many as 32,559 cases of rape were registered. Madhya Pradesh recorded the highest number of rape cases (5,562), followed by Uttar Pradesh (4,246) and Rajasthan (3,305). One cannot deny the fact that many incidences of rape go unreported for the fear of retaliation or shame. For those who show the courage to report, it is a slow road to justice. Years after the Nirbhaya case, the accused are still to be hanged.