VIBHA VERMA
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PANJIM: Crimes against women in Goa have skyrocketed over the past year and if that wasn’t enough women are feeling increasingly unsafe given that conviction rates are abysmal. It’s a double whammy.
Though the State police claim to have an almost 90 per cent detection rate in all crimes against women including rape, at least 50 per cent of cases are either “pending trial” or under investigation, police statistics over the past four years show. Also, police point to statistics of high rate of charge-sheeting in all cases, but this does not reflect in the conviction rate which is dismal.
The furore of the brutal rape and murder of a 23-year-old in the national Capital has brought Goans too out on the streets protesting this very delay and demanding fast track courts, more judges and professional investigation with accountability, a must as the statistics in Goa itself show, given that justice delayed is justice denied.
For a State that prides itself on its high social indicators, second-highest literacy figures in the country, a tolerant culture and a very high level of income that facts brought out by these statistics are alarming. In fact, the Home department in October 2012 had constituted a 9-member committee to find out the reason for failure of such cases leading to acquittals while observing that investigation into various sensational and heinous crimes was not done properly resulting in failure to secure convictions. However, till date no follow up action is evident on these recommendations.
Crime against women ranging from rape to kidnapping and domestic violence fluctuated in 2009, 2010 and 2011 but 2012 showed a significant jump. The number of rapes touched 54, up from 29 in the previous year and even higher than the 48 reported in 2009. This is out of a total of 220 crimes against women that include molestation, eve teasing, trafficking, dowry death and abetment to suicide registered at different police stations. While 53 cases from the overall total were charge-sheeted, 145 cases are under investigation and pending trial. The department managed to secure one conviction in molestation cases.
The 2012 crime figures show an increase of about 50 per cent in crimes against women over previous years. The department registered 128 cases in 2011, 146 in 2010 and 171 in 2009 even as cases of rape, molestation and cruelty to women dominated the crime chart these four years. Though police claims a detection rate with 100 per cent detection in a handful of crime categories, the large number of acquittals has raised severe concern about the investigations, placing the spotlight on governance and policing.2010 was an year of acquittals when it came to crimes against women ~ it had 24 acquittal orders and five discharges versus only five convictions, all coming from 106 of the total cases charge-sheeted in different courts.
Similarly, from 68 cases of the total number of crimes charge-sheeted in 2011, the prosecution managed to get only three convictions as against four acquittals and two discharges. In 2009, there were 23 convictions, 32 acquittals and six discharges of 126 cases charge-sheeted.
Even though crimes against women witnessed a considerable rise in 2012, what’s more interesting is that there were no dowry deaths as was in the preceding three years which together reported deaths of six women. Majority of the cases of abetment to suicide and cruelty are related to dowry demands and harassment by in-laws.
Rescuing of 40 trafficked women from prostitution rackets could, police sources said, have also attributed to a spike in crime statistics last year; Calangute police station played a major role in cracking down on the brothels, a drive than began from March-April 2012.
