Rising Crime rates in Jammu and Kashmir
News Kashmir Exclusive
The intensity of crime in a society is the indicator of the wellbeing of that society .Once Jammu and Kashmir few decades back was known as almost crime free ,but since past few years the realities are changing for worse .In a worrying development learnt recently, the Jammu and Kashmir has recorded a 15% increase in cognisable crimes in 2020 as compared to 2019, the latest report by National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) revealed.
The report said that Jammu and Kashmir (including Ladakh) registered 29,314 (including 403 cases in Ladakh) criminal cases under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) or under the Special and Local Laws (SLL) in 2020.
On the other hand, crime against women in Jammu and Kashmir also rose from 3,069 cases in 2019 to 3,414 in 2020 showing an increase of 11 percent notwithstanding a decline of 8.3 percent such cases at the national level.Majority of cases under crime against women under Indian Penal Code (IPC) or Special Local Laws (SLL) were registered under ‘Cruelty by Husband or His Relatives’, ‘Assault on Women with Intent to Outrage her Modesty’, ‘Kidnapping & Abduction of Women’ and ‘Rape’, etc.
According to NCRB, as per the NCRB report, the year of 2020 registered 247 cases of rape, 783 of kidnapping and abduction of women, 349 of cruelty by husband or his relatives, nine dowry deaths, 24 cases of abetment to suicide, 1744 cases of assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty, 10 cases of attempt to rape, etc.A total of 247 rape cases were reported in Jammu Kashmir Union Territory and two in Ladakh UT in the year 2020 (from January 1 to December 31). The victims included four girls below the age of 18 years. In majority cases, the rape victims were in the age group of 18 to 30 years (180 cases), followed by 30-45 years (55 cases) and 45-60 years (nine cases).Astonishingly, in all the rape cases except one, the offenders were known to the victims, either through family or friends. In 26 cases, the offender was family member while in 216 cases, the offender was either friend or neighbor or employer or other known person. There was only one case where the victim did not know the accused.
Voices of sanity are urging that we need to regain our lost moral fabric so as to curb the rising crime rate in Jammu and Kashmir .
