Rapes of minor girls went up in 2016: study

Sexual crimes against minor girls in Mumbai increased in 2016 over 2015, Praja Foundation said on Tuesday. The statement was made when the NGO released its annual report on the state of policing and law and order in the city. Praja’s report, based on analysis of data obtained through the Right To Information Act, said 72% of victims in rape cases in 2016 were girls under 18 years, up from 63% in 2015.

The figures were 628 rape cases in 2016, out of which 455 were registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, up from 448 out of 712 the previous year. “This data is reflective of the state of security of children in Mumbai and raises serious concerns as 7 out of 10 girls are getting raped, according to our study,” said Vaishnavi Mahurkar, a member of the foundation.

The study also indicated a significant decrease in crime cases registered in police stations across the city: there was a drop in cases for almost all major crimes, with murder cases dropping from 170 to 141, rape cases from 728 to 576, and similar declines in cases of burglary, chain snatching and motor vehicle theft.

Low conviction rates

Praja also released a report on a separate study it conducted on convictions secured by the Mumbai Police from 2008 to 2012. “In 2012, the conviction rates had plunged to a dangerous 18%,” Nitai Mehta, Founder and Managing Trustee, said. “Even though it now stands at 45 per cent in 2016, it still remains highly unsatisfactory.” The study found that a case took an average of 11.6 months to go from the FIR to charge sheet. phase.

The report said of 2,21,412 cases pending in 2016, trial was completed in only 13,544 cases, and among these, 6,120 cases ended in conviction. Mr. Mehta said, “It takes 21.3 months for a rape case to get from an FIR to the final verdict. In cases of murder, the same process takes 24.7 months.”

Conviction rates for rape and murder were particularly low. In 244 murder cases, only 60 convictions resulted, and for rape, out of 300 cases selected for in-depth analysis, conviction was secured in only 54 cases. A possible reason for the high rate of acquittals in rape cases, Ms. Mahurkar said, is complainants withdrawing cases: “This is usually because of the stigma revolving around the victims and victim shaming.” The report also pointed out that against a sanctioned strength of 50,465 personnel for the Mumbai police, only 41,955 were working as on March this year.

Meanwhile, in the Foundation’s study on accidental deaths on railway tracks or involving trains, the Kurla railway police registered the highest number of cases, 387 in 2016, with Borivali second at 279. Overall, 294 people sustained railway-related injuries in the Borivali GRP’s jurisdiction, and Kurla was second at 290 cases.

(With PTI inputs)