LONDON – India has been ranked as the most dangerous country in the world due to increasing risks of sexual violence and harassment of women, besides slavery.
According to the poll of global experts conducted by Thomson Reuters Foundation, New Delhi, the world’s second most populous city, is the worst megacity for sex attacks on women alongside Brazil’s Sao Paulo.
Afghanistan and Syria ranked second and third respectively in the survey while they are followed by Somalia and Saudi Arabia – a country where radical changes are being introduced by Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman.
The only western country in the top ten list is the United States. The surprise addition of the US came down to the #MeToo and Time’s Up campaigns against sexual harassment and violence that remained in headlines for months.
The Indian capital, known as the “rape capital” of India, was fourth worst of the cities in the overall poll and ranked as fourth worst when 550 experts were asked if women had access to economic resources such as education, land, and financial services such as bank accounts.
The Egyptian capital Cairo was rated the most dangerous city for women overall and rated third worst for sexual violence, followed by Mexico city and Dhaka. Tokyo was seen as the safest city for women in terms of sexual violence.
Experts are of the views that India’s ranking in the polls showed that the country did not take enough measures to save the women in the world’s largest democracy.
“India has shown utter disregard and disrespect for women … rape, marital rapes, sexual assault and harassment, female infanticide has gone unabated,” said Manjunath Gangadhara, an official at the Karnataka state government.
“The (world’s) fastest growing economy and leader in space and technology is shamed for violence committed against women.”
There were 2,155 rapes recorded in Delhi in 2016 – a rise of 67 percent from 2012, according to Indian police data.
Sao Paulo had 2,287 rapes reported in July this year compared to 2,868 in all 2016, according to government figures.
‘Rape Capital’
Last year in December, the Indian national capital Delhi officially took the lead in the rape cases and declared most unsafe city for women in India.
https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/world/indias-delhi-officially-becomes-rape-capital/
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.
