Highest crime against women in Bengal, Andhra

W. Bengal and Andhra Pradesh have earned the dubious distinction of leading a list of states where crime against women in 2011 was highest.

West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh have earned the dubious distinction of leading a list of states where crime against women in 2011 was highest.

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With 7.5% share of the country's population, West Bengal accounted for nearly 12.7% of total crime against women by reporting 29,133 cases.

The National Crime Records Bureau figures show that Andhra Pradesh, accounting for nearly 7% of the country's population, recorded 12.4% of total crime against women with 28,246 cases.

Madhya Pradesh reported the highest number of rape cases (3,406) accounting for 14.1% of total such cases reported in the country.

Rape cases have been further categorised as incest rape and other. Incest rape cases have decreased by 7.3% from 288 cases in 2010 to 267 cases in 2011 as compared to 9.2% increase in overall rape cases.

Maharashtra (44 cases) has accounted for the highest (15.3%) incest rape cases.

National capital Delhi has reported 17.6% of rape cases, 31.8% of kidnapping and abduction cases, 14.0% of dowry deaths and 10.1% of molestation cases among 53 mega cities, the NCRB report said.

Among 53 cities, Delhi (4,489 cases) has accounted for 13.3% of total crime against women followed by Bangalore (1,890 cases ; 5.6%), Hyderabad (1,860 cases ; 5.5%) and Vijayawada (1,797 cases ; 5.3%).

The crime against women was significantly higher in Vijayawada, Kota, Kollam, Jaipur and Asansol at 120.5, 57.5, 54.2, 48.6, and 48.2% respectively as compared to average of mega cities at 21.0%.

Uttar Pradesh with 7,525 cases has accounted for 21.2% of the total cases of kidnapping and abduction of women at the national level. Delhi has reported the highest crime rate at 12.4% as compared to the national average of 2.9%.

The cases of dowry deaths have increased by 2.7% during 2011 over the previous year. 26.9% of the total such cases reported in the country were reported from Uttar Pradesh (2,322 cases) alone followed by Bihar (1,413 cases, 16.4%), the NCRB report said.

Andhra Pradesh has reported 42.7% (3,658 cases) of sexual harassment followed by Maharashtra 12.5% (1,071 cases) of total incidences during 2011. Andhra Pradesh has reported the highest crime rate (4.3%) as compared to the national average of 0.7%.

Cases of torture of women by husbands and relatives also went up by 5.4% from the previous year. 19.9% of these were reported from West Bengal (19,772 cases). The highest crime rate of 21.6% was also reported from West Bengal as compared to the national rate of 8.2%.

Incidents of molestation in the country have increased by 5.8% from 2011. Madhya Pradesh has reported the highest incidence (6,665) amounting to 15.5% of total such cases. Kerala has the highest crime rate (11.2%) as compared to the national average of 3.6%, the report said.

28.7% of dowry cases were reported from Andhra Pradesh (1,899) followed by Karnataka (1,210 cases) accounting for 18.3% of total cases.