Rape, trafficking of women increased during pandemic: RTI query

Nagpur: Even as residents remained confined to homes during a series of lockdowns due to Covid-19 pandemic till May-June this year, the city witnessed a spurt in crimes against women.
An RTI query has revealed that crimes like rapes, women trafficking and sexual assault against minors witnessed a jump in last 1.5 years of the pandemic in comparison to 2019. Rape of women saw the sharpest rise with 172 cases reported in 2020, as compared to 136 in 2019. Till August this year, 149 cases had been lodged at various police stations across the city.
Similarly, sexual assault cases against children, which are registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, witnessed a jump as per the reply by Crime Branch’s public relation officer BN Nalawade to RTI queries by senior activist Abhay Kolarkar.
In 2019, 200 POCSO cases were registered, which increased to 238 in 2020, while till August 2021, 142 cases have been registered across city police stations. Women trafficking cases almost doubled to 33 last year in comparison to just 18 in 2019. This year, 10 cases have been registered so far.
Nalawade informed that kidnapping and molestation cases saw a marginal decline in comparison to 2019. In 2020, 246 kidnapping and 323 molestation cases were registered as compared to 404 and 339 in 2019. This year till August, 239 kidnapping and 229 molestation cases were recorded.
In other offences, deaths of women due to dowry demands by their in-laws recorded a slight increase in 2020. Last year, eight deaths were registered, in comparison to five in 2019. However, there was not a single case of dowry death this year till August. Even harassment from in-laws witnessed a decrease last year to 118 in comparison to 136 in 2019. This year 103 such cases were registered. In all three years, there was not a single offence registered under forceful abortion of pregnancy.
Though no offence of public humiliation of women was recorded in 2019, four cases each were recorded last year and this year. Similarly, one case each was registered for acid attack against women in all three years, according to Nalawade.