Despite several efforts, cases of crime against women are on the rise in Himachal Pradesh.
Addressing the media, director general of police Sanjay Kumar said 725 cases of crime against women were registered till June 30 while the number was 729 for the same time span last year. But among major crime heads, murder cases have gone up to 18 while till June-end 2013, total murder cases were 14.
Kumar claimed crimes against women were not increasing but their detection was more. "The increase in crime heads can be clearly attributed to the increase in awareness and rise in literacy of women as well as setting up of women cells and anti-human trafficking units in every district," he said.
Apart from this, 8,118 cases were registered this year till June 30, which are 528 more than those registered last year in the same time span.
He said rape cases had increased to 129 for this year till June 30 from 111 last year. Besides, cases of cruelty against women have also been on the rise. "170 cases of cruelty against women have been registered till June 30 this year, 23 more than those registered last year for the same time span," Kumar added.
He said safety of women was the prime concern for the police department and several steps had been taken for this. To increase vigilance and action, Mahila Twarit Bal has been set up in the police headquarter. Till June 30, police received 1,470 complaints via SMS out of which FIRs were registered in 36 cases. The highest number of SMS were received from Shimla (498) while minimum FIRs were registered in Kangra (9).
{{/usCountry}}He said safety of women was the prime concern for the police department and several steps had been taken for this. To increase vigilance and action, Mahila Twarit Bal has been set up in the police headquarter. Till June 30, police received 1,470 complaints via SMS out of which FIRs were registered in 36 cases. The highest number of SMS were received from Shimla (498) while minimum FIRs were registered in Kangra (9).
{{/usCountry}}"The state is also in the process of recruiting another Mahila Indian Reserve Battalion that will not only ensure more employment and empowerment to women, but will also help in providing a better response to victims in the future by posting trained women officials in the field," he said.
Further, Kumar said the state police had started a month long drive every quarter to search missing people in the state. Going by the statistics, he said 588 people had gone missing till June 30 of which 320 had been traced.