Despite a slight dip in the cases compared to last year, the ignominy of Madhya Pradesh continues as it has again reported the highest number of rape cases in the country, according to the recently released figures for the year 2018 by the National Crime Records Bureau.
In all, MP has reported 5433 cases of rape under section 376 of IPC. If the 1047 cases of rapes of minors under section 4&6 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act are added to this, the total number of rape cases goes up to 6480 in the state. This means that every day almost 18 rapes were reported.
More shocking is the fact that out of 5433 cases under IPC, 2830 rapes are with persons below 18 years of age. Along with the POCSO cases, this takes the total cases of rapes with minors to 3877, almost 60% of the total rape cases. Also, it means that everyday between 10 to 11 minors was raped in MP in 2018, the analysis suggests, activist Sachin Jain has said.
Also, the number of cases under POCSO (1047) is an increase over the cases reported in 2017 at 964, despite an overall decrease in incidents of rapes. “This means children that threat to children/minors is continuing to increase,” Jain said.
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Madhya Pradesh has been reporting the highest number of rape cases in the country for several years now. The NCRB figure for 2017, released in October 2019, had put the IPC rape cases in MP at 5562 and the POCSO figure at 964 – taking the total to 6526. Therefore, the state has shown a minuscule decrease of 0.7 per cent of the overall incidents.
54 survivors below 6 years of age, 11 over 60
The heinous aspect of the crime could be gauged by the fact that 54 of the survivors (in section 376 cases) were below six years of age, while 11 were over 60 years. As many as 1143 survivors are between 12-16 years of age while 1502 are between 16 to 18 years, the statistics released by the NCRB shows.
The Congress has attacked the ex-chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in the matter, pointing out that the figures pertain to his tenure. “Shivraj Singh called himself mama (maternal uncle) of girls, but year after year, the state reported the highest figures of crime against women under his rule. This totally exposes his claims. Our government is making a concerted effort to wipe this blemish off Madhya Pradesh and we will do it,” Congress spokesman Narendra Saluja said while speaking to THE WEEK.