The gangrape and brutal assault of a 23-year-old girl and her male friend on the night of December 16 in south Delhi was one of the most gruesome cases of crime against women to have ever taken place in the Capital.

Shockingly, in the following two weeks, more than 40 girls were reported to have been raped in the Capital - an average of 3 rapes every day. This leaves one to wonder why the Capital shouldn't be renamed the 'rape capital' - 706 cases of rape were reported in Delhi in 2012, the highest in the last 10 years.

The first time the Capital got the 'rape capital' tag was in 2005 when the number of rapes reached a record high - 660 in a year. Rape cases crossed the 650 mark in 2012 and reached a record high for the first time since 2005. Cases of molestation have also increased and in 2012, 727 cases were registered in comparison to 653 in 2011 and 601 cases in 2010. In the last 15 days of the year, 75 cases of molestation (five in a day on an average) were reported.

While Delhi Police commissioner Neeraj Kumar had said rape is an opportunistic crime and it mostly happens in private places, the year gone by also saw a rise in rapes committed by strangers. In 2011, 2.46 % of the total rape accused were strangers. In 2012, the percentage rose to 3.68%.

In his annual press conference on Friday, the commissioner said measures taken by police include making women help desks at police stations functional round the clock, increasing the lines of '100' from 60 to 100 and registration of cases regarding women anywhere in the capital without bothering about jurisdiction.

"Women should not be made waiting to register a complaint and their complaints should be recorded verbatim ," he said.

The commissioner added that there should be "zero tolerance against eve-teasing".