Between 17 and 22, 5 cases of rape and murder were reported weekly: study

NEW DELHI: Amid ongoing outrage over the brutal rape-murder of a doctor at a government hospital in Kolkata and the recent cases of Sexual harassment In other states, a new report analyzing National Crime Records Bureau data on rape/gang rape followed by murder cases said 1,551 cases were reported in this category between 2017 and 2022.
The highest number of rapes/gang rapes followed by murder was reported in 2018 at 294, and the lowest at 219 in 2020. In 2017, the number was 223, in 2019 at 283, in 2021 at 284, and in 2022 at 248. Data by state over six years showed that UP reported the most cases (280), followed by Madhya Pradesh (207), Assam (205), Maharashtra (155) and Karnataka (79).
The analysis, conducted by the non-profit Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, found that out of a total of 1,551 cases, an annual average of just over 258 cases is reached. “In other words, on an average, nearly five cases (4.9) of rape/gang rape with murder were reported every week between 2017 and 2022,” the report said. The NCRB began publishing statistics on rape/gang rape followed by murder as a separate category in its annual Crime In India report from 2017.
As for the results, of the 308 cases in which the trial was completed, just under two-thirds (65%) of the cases (200) ended in conviction. In more than a third of the cases, the proceedings ended with the defendant being discharged (6%) or acquitted (28%). The conviction rate was lowest in 2017 (57.89%) and highest in 2021 (75%). In 2022, it was 69%.
The NCRB data showed that the number of rape/gang rape/murder cases before courts increased year on year during the study period. The total number of cases (backlog plus new cases brought before courts) was lowest in 2017 (574 cases) and steadily increased to 1,333 by 2022, an increase of 132%.
CHRI Director Venkatesh Nayak said, “It is extremely disturbing that in many cases, the police filed a closure report instead of a chargesheet after completing the investigation. In the six years, 140 cases of rape/gang rape followed by murder were closed with closure reports, 97 of them due to insufficient evidence to try the accused for rape/gang rape followed by murder.”
NCRB collects this data in respect of cases where the police investigations was unable to find sufficient evidence to bring the accused to trial, or the accused disappeared, or the complaint turned out to be false, or the proceedings ended due to an error of fact or law, or the dispute was a civil one.
In four of the six years studied, the prosecution rate was above 90%, even during the pandemic years. The success rate fell below 90% in 2018 (87%) and most recently in 2022 (85%). However, the results also show that during this period, the police were unable to complete investigations in 32 to 49% of cases of rape/gang rape with murder.