Rape, the fastest growing crime in India

New Delhi: According to the latest National Crime Bureau Records, rape today, is India’s fastest growing crime.

The shocking incidents

• January 1: A Swede girl molested in Kochi.
• January 8: An American woman molested by a temple priest in Pushkar.
• January 11: A British tourist raped by an unknown man in Panaji.

The incidents have all taken place in the last 14 days and all the victims have been foreign tourists.

The question that now rises is, can a country that is unable to ensure the safety of its own women provide a safe environment to unsuspecting foreigners?

"Police do not register cases and they do not take enough action. The media is also to blame because the way rape is portrayed it creates a bad impact on people,” says former National Commission for Women, Chairman, Poornima Advani.

And there are stories you have probably just heard of; the rape and murder of a call centre employees in Pune and the alleged rape of a lady doctor in Delhi in 2007.

The latest National Crimes Record Bureau figures tell a shocking tale.

It records 19,348 women being raped in 2006, which is almost 1,000 more than in 2005, making rape a bigger problem than murder, kidnapping and robbery.

The figures

• 2006: 19,348 cases.
• 2005: 18,359 cases.
Percentage increase since 1953
• Rape Cases: 678 per cent increase.
• Murder Cases: 231 per cent increase.
• Kidnapping Cases: 356 per cent increase.
• Robbery Cases: 120 [per cent increase.
Rape, today is India's fastest growing crime. The number of rape cases reported in the year 2006 saw an increase by more than 600 per cent since 1971.
Surely, this is not a milestone to boast off in the 60th year of our independence.
So what is the solution to this problem?
"A major reason behind such impulses and excesses is the lack of importance shown towards issues such as gender respect in the education curriculum,” says psychologist, Jitendra Nagpal.
The figure of rape cases will only keep rising if we do not tackle the root cause of the problem inculcating gender respect and creating awareness among people.