India - Every hour,two women raped

NEW DELHI: Every 60 minutes, two women are raped in this country.


What is more horrendous is that 133 elderly women were sexually assaulted last year, according to the latest report prepared by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).

A total of 20,737 cases of rape were reported last year registering a 7.2 per cent increase over the previous year, with Madhya Pradesh becoming the "rape capital" of the country by topping the list of such incidents.


Going by the NCRB statistics, two women are raped in the country every hour.


Madhya Pradesh (3,010) accounted for 14.5 per cent of the total cases, with West Bengal following with 2,106 such incidents. Records of high incidence in other states are Uttar Pradesh (1,648), Bihar (1,555) and Rajasthan (1,238).


The national capital had 598 cases in which 602 women were sexually assaulted.


In its report 'Crime in India - 2007', the NCRB noted that offenders were known to the victims in as many as 19,188 cases (92.5 per cent) that included 6,902 incidents in which neighbours were involved.


Parents or close family members were involved in 405 cases while in 1,448 cases relatives were involved.

"Everywhere in this country, over 90 per cent of the victims are raped by person known to them," a senior police official said.


Women in the age-group of 18 to 30 years were the largest chunk among the victims (11,984) followed by 3,530 victims in the age-group of 30-50 years.


While 617 victims were below the age of 10 years, 4,507 were between 10 and 18 years, the report said.