Crime against women: Haryana registered 18% conviction rate in 2021

NCRB report-2021: Pendency of cases in crime against women rose to 93 per cent last year even as almost five women a day were raped across Haryana and 275 brides were killed for dowry

Near 18 per cent accused facing trial for committing a crime against women were convicted last year in Haryana when the pendency of such cases rose to 93 per cent even as almost five women a day were raped across the state, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report ‘Crime in India-2021’.

Near 18 per cent accused facing trial for committing a crime against women were convicted last year in Haryana when the pendency of such cases rose to 93 per cent even as almost five women a day were raped across the state. (HT Photo/ Representational image)

The police registered 16,826 cases under the Indian Penal Code (IPC-14,496 cases) and Special Act and Local Laws (SLL-2,330 cases) in the category of crime against women in 2021. While 6,426 cases turned out false, 467 accused were convicted and in 2,174 cases, the accused were acquitted.

The lower courts of Haryana had 30,071 cases in question pending for trial before 2021 and 9,057 fresh cases were sent for trial in 2021, increasing the total cases to 39,128.

At the end of 2021, there were 36,475 cases pending for trial in the state after a total 2,653 cases of crime against women were disposed of during the year with 17.7 per cent conviction rate and 93.2 pendency percentage.

The all-India conviction rate in crime against women cases stands at 26.5 per cent, the report says.

Almost identical is the state of affairs of the crime against children cases. For example, the conviction rate is 26.1 per cent and the pendency of these cases in the courts is 90.3 per cent. At least 8,626 cases of crime against children are pending trial in the state.

The number of cases (crime against children) rose to 5,700 in 2021 from 5,119 in 2019 and 4,338 in 2020. Police had also registered 2,262 cases of kidnapping and abduction of minor girls who were compelled for marriage. However, of the total cases registered 2,761 cases finally turned out to be false, while 241 accused were convicted last year and 683 acquitted.

Rise in dowry deaths and rape cases

Notwithstanding the ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ catchphrase of Haryana, the state registered 275 dowry deaths against 69 dowry deaths in Punjab and two in Himachal Pradesh.

Equally grim is the scene across the country as in 28 states 6,628 dowry deaths were reported.

The data shows that 1,716 rape cases were registered in Haryana (12 per cent rise over the previous year), besides 235 attempts to commit rape were also lodged.

On the other hand, in Punjab, 508 rape cases were lodged during the same period.

Not just this, 5,755 cases of cruelty by husbands and his relatives (Section 498-A of IPC) were also registered in Haryana as the crime against women cases rose from 14,683 in 2019 to 16,826 in 2021. But the charge sheets were filed in 57 per cent cases.

And there was 12 per cent rise in kidnapping and abduction cases as in 1,086 cases women were kidnapped/abducted with the intention of compelling them for marriage.

As many as 2,883 women were assaulted with “intent to outrage their modesty”, registering 20 per cent increase. This included 19 cases reported in public transports and 42 cases came to the fore from shelter homes for women and children.

Chargesheeting rate improves

In 2019, Haryana had registered 1,66,336 cases (both IPC and SLL crimes), which rose to 1,92,395 in 2020 (due to pandemic-related offences). Last year, the state registered 2,06,431 cases (1,12,720 under the IPC and 93711 under SLL), at least 40,000 more cases than registered in 2019, the data shows.

Among the cases registered under the IPC, the charge-sheeting rate of Haryana rose to 49 per cent against the all India 72.3 per cent. The states having charge-sheeting rate lower than Haryana are Delhi, Manipur, Meghalaya, and Assam. But the charge-sheeting rate of Himachal Pradesh is 84 per cent.

However, Haryana’s charge-sheeting rate galloped to 95.7 per cent in SLL crimes. The combined charge-sheeting rate of IPC and SLL cases also improved to 68.4 per cent in 2021 from 39.7 per cent in 2020.

Behind Haryana are five states, including Rajasthan, with the lower charge-sheeting rate in IPC and SLL crimes.

Himachal Pradesh has 87.4 per cent and Punjab 80.2 per cent charge-sheeting rate that shows the percentage of total cases disposed of by the police.

As per the data, the charge sheeting rate of Haryana in violent crimes was 58.7 per cent last year while all India average is 74.1 per cent. In murder cases (1,137 in 2019, 1,143 in 2020 and 1,112 in 2021) the charge sheeting rate was 73.7 per cent, but it stood at 18 per cent in kidnapping and abduction cases.

The overall charge-sheeting rate in crime against women cases was 57 per cent in 2021 when six acid attacks on women took place and 1,917 females in 16-18 and 990 in 18-30 age brackets respectively were abducted.