Be it Manipur or West Bengal, crime towards ladies is on the rise throughout India and that is evident from a report on associated complaints registered in 2022. Published by the National Commission for Women, it said that there have been 30,957 complaints of crime towards ladies final yr.

The NCW’s Statistical Overview of Complaints confirmed a 30 p.c improve within the complete variety of complaints registered from 23,700 instances in 2021. After 2014, when it acquired 33,906 complaints, the NCW has acquired the best variety of complaints in 2022.

Half of those complaints – 16,872 instances, which is 54.5 p.c – have been from the nation’s most populated state Uttar Pradesh (UP), adopted by Delhi with 3,004 complaints (10 p.c), Maharashtra with 1,381 complaints (5 p.c), Bihar with 1,368 complaints (4.4 p.c), Haryana with 1,362 complaints (4.4 p.c), Madhya Pradesh with 1,141 complaints (3.7 p.c), Rajasthan with 1,030 (3.3 p.c), Tamil Nadu with 668 (2.2 p.c), West Bengal with 621 (2 p.c), Karnataka with 554 (1.8 p.c) and the remaining states with 2,955 complaints (9.5 p.c).

The NCW report mentioned most of those complaints have been about emotional abuse and home violence. A complete of 9,710 complaints have been registered underneath the ‘right to live with dignity (emotional abuse)’ class, 6,970 have been underneath the ‘protection of women against domestic violence’ and 4,600 complaints have been underneath the ‘harassment of married women/dowry harassment’. Most complaints from Uttar Pradesh have been about home violence and emotional abuse.

The NCW registered over 2,500 complaints underneath the ‘outraging modesty of a woman or molestation’ class, whereas 1,701 complaints have been lodged underneath ‘rape/attempt to rape’, 1,623 complaints underneath the ‘police apathy against women’ and 924 complaints underneath ‘cyber crimes’.

In response to a query in Lok Sabha, ladies and little one growth minister Smriti Irani introduced information of 357 complaints underneath ‘harassment of married women/dowry harassment’ in 2022, 341 in 2021, and 330 in 2020; whereas 1,710 complaints in 2022, 1,681 in 2021, and 1,236 in 2020 have been registered underneath the ‘rape/attempt to rape’. “There is a rise within the variety of complaints registered within the fee underneath classes ‘dowry’ and ‘rape or attempt to rape’ within the final three years and this yr,” the union minister said in her reply.

According to the minister’s data, 764 fast-track special courts, including 411 e-POCSO courts were functional in 28 states and union territories (UT) as of January 2023. The courts disposed of more than 1,44,000 complaints but there are more than 1,98,000 pending cases, too, as of December 2022.

About the 2021 report, NCW chief Rekha Sharma said, “The commission has always made it a point to launch new initiatives to help women.” The variety of complaints are growing as a result of the fee is elevating consciousness amongst ladies in order that they will lodge a grievance, she mentioned.