Delhi officially declared 'rape capital' of India

NEW DELHI - The Indian national capital Delhi on Saturday officially took the lead in the rape cases and declared most unsafe city for women in India.

According to the data released by the country's National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Delhi has reported  33 percent (13,803 cases out of total 41,761 cases in 19 cities) of total crimes against women followed by Mumbai at 12.3 percent (5,128 cases) among the 19 cities with a population above two million.

The national capital also reported nearly 29 percent of cruelty by husband and his relatives and dowry deaths, the NCRB data said.

Similarly, Bhopal — the Madhya Pradesh's capital— wears the shameful tag of rape capital for the last consecutive sixth years. The NCRB data for 2016 shows 4,882 rape complaints across the state — that's a shocking 13 rapes a day.  And MP is second in the country in heinous crimes, trailing Uttar Pradesh by a few decimal points — 9.5% to 8.9%.

Ironically, the NCRB data was released on the same day that the Madhya Pradesh government tabled a bill in the assembly seeking the death penalty for those who rape children below 12 years of age, reports Times of India.

Reacting quickly to the NCRB report, the state crime records bureau pointed out that crime had dipped in 2016 over the previous two years. "The figure of rape cases is high because the state is registering each and every complaint and in 90% cases the accused were charge-sheeted, which puts MP in the first position in terms of disposal of cases," said SCRB officers.

Despite the claims of the state government, the number of rapes in MP has increased since 2015 when 4,391 cases were recorded. Also, in 2016, MP had the third most gang rapes in the country (226) after Uttar Pradesh (682) and Rajasthan (366). In crime scene as a percentage of population among metros, Indore saved the blushes, coming 14th out of 19th at 2.7%. In rapes, MP is followed by Uttar Pradesh with 4,816 and Maharashtra with 4,189 rapes.

In 98% of the rapes in MP, the accused was known to the girl. Most of them were neighbours (1,115) while the remaining included grandfathers, fathers, brothers and close relatives. There were as many as 1,592 rapes with a promise of marriage, again the maximum in the country. The NCRB report states cases pending trial from the previous year in MP were 61,777.

There were a total of 629 dowry deaths in MP — third in the country after UP (2,473) and Bihar (987). Overall, the crime against women has increased in the state over the previous year, but it's less than 2014 figures. The total criminal cases registered in MP stood at 26604 in 2016 — it was 28,756 in 2014 and 24,231 in 2015.