essay on crime in india

Essay on Crime in India

Students are often asked to write an essay on Crime in India in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

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100 Words Essay on Crime in India

Understanding crime in india.

Crime in India is a complex issue. It ranges from small offenses like theft to serious crimes like murder. The reasons behind crime are many, including poverty, illiteracy, and unemployment.

Types of Crime

Crimes in India are broadly divided into violent and non-violent. Violent crimes include murder, assault, and rape. Non-violent crimes are theft, fraud, and corruption.

Prevention Measures

Preventing crime is important. This can be done through education, creating job opportunities, and strict law enforcement. Public awareness can also help in reducing crime rates.

250 Words Essay on Crime in India

Introduction.

India, a country of diverse cultures and traditions, is also a land where crime has become a significant concern. The complexity of crime in India is a multifaceted issue, deeply rooted in socioeconomic disparities, inequitable access to justice, and often exacerbated by the rapid pace of urbanization.

The Nature of Crime

In India, crime ranges from petty theft to severe offenses such as rape, murder, and organized crime. The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) reports an alarming increase in crime rates over the years. This rise can be attributed to various factors, including population growth, economic inequality, and the increased reporting of crimes.

Socioeconomic Factors

The stark economic disparities in India often push individuals towards crime. Poverty, lack of education, and unemployment are significant contributors to crime. The desperation to escape the vicious cycle of poverty often leads individuals to resort to unlawful activities.

Legal and Police System

The legal and police system in India often faces criticism for its inefficiency and corruption. Lengthy trials, delayed justice, and a lack of transparency often deter victims from reporting crimes, thereby fostering a culture of impunity among criminals.

Addressing crime in India requires a multifaceted approach. It is essential to focus on socioeconomic development, educational opportunities, and employment generation. Simultaneously, necessary reforms in the legal and police system can ensure efficient and swift justice. By tackling crime at its roots, India can aspire to create a safer society for all its citizens.

500 Words Essay on Crime in India

India, a country with a rich cultural heritage and diverse traditions, grapples with a significant issue – crime. Crime in India is a complex social issue, deeply entrenched in economic disparities, social inequalities, and systemic corruption. This essay aims to provide an in-depth analysis of the crime situation in India, examining its causes, effects, and possible solutions.

Understanding the Crime Landscape

In India, crime manifests in various forms, from petty theft and burglary to more grave offenses like murder, rape, and organized crimes. According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), crimes against women and cybercrimes have seen a stark increase in recent years. The surge in cybercrimes can be attributed to the rapid digitization of the Indian economy and the lack of stringent cyber laws and digital literacy.

Causes of Crime in India

The causes of crime in India are multifaceted. Poverty is one of the primary drivers, forcing individuals into a life of crime to meet their basic needs. Unemployment and lack of education further contribute to this issue. Additionally, the caste system, despite being officially abolished, still influences societal attitudes, leading to crimes of discrimination and violence.

Another significant factor is political corruption. It often results in the miscarriage of justice, fostering a culture of impunity where criminals escape punishment. This lack of accountability indirectly encourages criminal activities.

The Impact of Crime

Crime in India has far-reaching consequences. It not only affects the immediate victims but also has a profound impact on society and the economy. High crime rates can deter foreign investment, hampering economic growth. Moreover, it creates an environment of fear and insecurity, affecting the mental health of citizens and disrupting social harmony.

Addressing Crime in India

Addressing crime in India requires a multi-pronged approach. First, there must be an emphasis on education and employment generation to address the root causes of crime. Second, the legal and judicial system needs to be strengthened to ensure swift and fair justice. This includes implementing stricter laws, particularly for cybercrimes, and ensuring their effective enforcement.

Reforming the police system is also crucial. This involves improving their training, ensuring their accountability, and making them more community-centric. Additionally, societal attitudes need to change to eradicate discrimination and violence stemming from caste or gender biases.

In conclusion, crime in India is a pressing issue that needs urgent attention. While the causes are deep-rooted and the impacts severe, a comprehensive approach involving legal, social, and economic reforms can help in mitigating this issue. It is a collective responsibility that requires the active participation of the government, civil society, and every citizen to ensure a safe and secure India.

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Latest Crime Rate Report of India 2024 and Their Impacts

In 2024, India's crime rate stood at 445.9 per 100,000 people, marking a decline from 487.8 in 2020. Check out Details of Latest Crime Rate Report of India 2024 and Their Impacts on Society.

Table of Contents

In 2024, the crime rate in India stood at 445.9 per 100,000 people, marking a notable decrease from 487.8 in 2020. The prevalent crimes in India continue to be theft, robbery, and assault.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), the crime rate per lakh population dropped from 445.9 in 2021 to 422.2 in 2022. This decline is considered a more reliable indicator, accounting for the impact of population growth on absolute crime numbers.

However, amidst this overall decline, crimes against women saw a troubling increase. The NCRB reports a 4% rise in such crimes in 2022 compared to 2021. The majority of these crimes were related to cruelty by husbands or relatives, kidnapping, assault, and rape.

Among the states, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Delhi, and Bihar persist as regions with the highest crime rates in India. This underscores the need for continued efforts in law enforcement, public awareness, and community engagement to address crime and ensure the safety and security of citizens nationwide.

Latest Crime Rate Report of India 2024

Latest 2024 crime rate report in India shows a marginal 0.56% decrease overall.
Specific crimes like rape increased by 1.1% and kidnapping/abduction by 5.1%.
Urban areas exhibit higher crime rates compared to rural regions.
Factors attributed to the decline include heightened police presence, improved law enforcement, and increased public awareness.
Persistent challenges include the need for enhanced police training and increased resources.
Total reported crime rate stands at 445.9 per 100,000 people.
Theft remains the most common crime, followed by robbery and assault.
States with highest crime rates include Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Delhi, and Bihar.

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List of states and union territories of India by crime rate

Highest crime rate state in india.

Uttar Pradesh (UP) has the highest crime rate in India in 2024. As of 2022, UP’s crime rate was 171.6%, which is much lower than the national average of 258.1%. However, according to NCRB data, UP has a significant crime rate, with reported incidents reaching 753,675.

Other states with high crime rates include- Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Bihar, Delhi.

Lowest Crime Rate State in India

As of 2021, Nagaland had the lowest crime rate in India. In 2022, NCRB data showed that Uttar Pradesh’s crime rate was 171.6%, which is lower than the national average of 258.1%.

In 2021, Delhi had the highest crime rate in India, while D&N Haveli and Daman & Diu had the lowest. In 2016, Delhi had the highest cognizable crime rate of 160.4 per 100,000 people.

Crime Rate in India Year Wise

Here’s a breakdown of the crime rate in India over the past few years:

2020: The crime rate in India was reported to be 487.8 per 100,000 people.
2021: The crime rate decreased to 445.9 per 100,000 people, indicating a decline from the previous year.
2022: The crime rate further decreased to 422.2 per 100,000 people, continuing the downward trend observed in recent years.
2023: The crime rate data for this year is not provided in the information provided.
2024: The crime rate remained stable at 445.9 per 100,000 people, indicating no significant change compared to 2021.

States with Most Number of Crimes Rate

Major crime categories and trends.

Major crime categories in India include homicide, assault, theft, robbery, and sexual offenses, reflecting a diverse range of criminal activities.
Examining trends within these categories is crucial for understanding evolving patterns and tactics employed by criminals.
A significant contemporary trend is the surge in cybercrime, encompassing various forms such as online fraud and identity theft.
Ongoing concern exists regarding crimes against women and children, including sexual assault and child abuse.
Vigilant monitoring of major crime categories and identification of emerging trends play a pivotal role in formulating effective crime prevention strategies.

Impacts of Crime on Society and Economy

Social repercussions of crime include generating feelings of fear, mistrust, and insecurity among individuals, leading to a reduction in overall quality of life.
Communities grappling with high crime rates often experience a breakdown in social bonds, heightened isolation, and decreased community involvement.
Victims and their families suffer enduring physical and psychological trauma as a result of criminal activities.
Economic impacts of crime include increased healthcare expenses, diminished productivity, and higher costs associated with law enforcement and the criminal justice system.
Crime acts as a deterrent to investments, hindering economic growth and negatively impacting a country’s reputation.
Additionally, crime affects tourism and foreign direct investment, highlighting the importance of addressing crime for cultivating a safer society and promoting a flourishing economy.

Crime Rate in India 2024 UPSC

In 2024, India’s crime rate stood at 445.9 per 100,000 people, marking a decline from 487.8 in 2020. Despite an overall decrease, crimes against women increased by 4%. Uttar Pradesh reported the highest crime rate, with theft, robbery, and assault being prevalent. Major crime categories include homicide, assault, theft, and cybercrime. Crime impacts society and the economy through fear, healthcare costs, and hindering investments, necessitating effective prevention strategies and community engagement.

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Crime Rate in India 2024 FAQs

What is the crime rate in india in 2023.

Number of total crimes reported in India in 2023 is 445.9 per 100,000 people.

What is India current crime rate?

According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), India's crime rate was 422.2 per lakh population in 2022, down from 445.9 in 2021.

Which state is first in crime rate in India?

According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Uttar Pradesh has the highest crime rate in India in 2021.

Which is safest state in India?

Sikkim is the safest, cleanest, and coolest state in India.

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Crime in India Report

The National Crime Records Bureau is a government of India office that records all types of crime. After each calendar year, data is collected by SCRBs through DCRBs and submitted to NCRB in its annual report. Megacities (cities with a population of ten lakh or more) have their own data set. Data on several IPC heads are gathered and released separately by the district.

The Crime in India report includes detailed information on:

Cases that have been registered, as well as their judgment.
Individuals detained and their punishment.

Latest Context:

The Crime in India Report for 2020 was issued by the NCRB- National Crime Records Bureau. Though 2020, a year defined by periods of nationwide shutdown due to the COVID pandemic, witnessed reduced serious offences, it also saw a significant increase in civil unrest.

UPSC aspirants can refer to the links below for the upcoming exam preparation:

Crime in India Report 2020

In 2020, 66,01,285 serious offences were registered, including 42,54,356 Indian Penal Code (IPC) offences and 23,46,929 SLL- Special and Local Laws offences.
It shows an increase of 14,45,127 (28.0%) in registration of cases over 2019 (51,56,158 cases).
In 2020, India also recorded an average of 80 homicides per day, for 29,193 deaths, with Uttar Pradesh leading the charts.

Key Highlights of Crime in India Report 2020

Traditional crimes.

The number of new cases involving crimes against children, women, and older persons and robbery, burglary, and theft has decreased by around 2 lakh.
Most of the serious offences against women were classified as “cruelty by a spouse or his family” (30.2%), “attack on women to insult her dignity” (19.7 per cent), “kidnapping of women” (19.0 per cent), and “sexual assault” (7.2 per cent).
Homicide rose by 1 per cent, but “violent crimes” fell by 0.5 per cent. Source
When it comes to women’s safety, Delhi is one of the country’s cities with many incidents. In 2020, more than 10,093 incidences of violence against women were reported in the city.

The spread of “false/fake news” and conspiracies, an offence under the IPC Code, saw a 214% rise in 2020 compared to 2019.

Civil Conflicts

Communal rioting increased by 96% in 2020 compared to the previous year.
Caste riots surged by nearly 50%, agricultural riots by 38%, and Andolan/morcha riots by 33%.

Offences Against the Environment

Throughout 2020, the number of cases classified as ‘environment-related crimes’ climbed by 78.1% in the country.

Cyber Crime

Reported cases per lakh population of cybercrime jumped from 3.3 per cent in 2019 to 3.7 per cent in 2020.

Crimes Against the State

The year also witnessed a notable decrease in instances involving crimes against the state, by a 27% decrease compared to 2019.
On the other hand, Uttar Pradesh was the only state to rise in this section, owing to the rising number of destruction to public property filed by the state, most of which occurred during the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 rallies.

Crime against Women

A total of 3,71,503 cases of crime against women were registered during 2020, showing a decline of 8.3% over 2019 (4,05,326 cases).
Majority of cases under crime against women under IPC were registered under ‘Cruelty by Husband or His Relatives’ (30.0%) followed by ‘Assault on Women with Intent to Outrage her Modesty’ (23.0%), ‘Kidnapping & Abduction of Women’ (16.8%) and ‘Rape’ (7.5%). The crime rate registered per lakh women population is 56.5 in 2020 in comparison with 62.3 in 2019.

Refer to the links below regarding crime and violence against women and children in the country:

Crime Against Senior Citizens

In 2020, there was a significant decrease in crime against older adults.

Crimes Against Children

The number of instances recorded for serious offences against minors has decreased by 13.2 per cent.

Crimes Against SCs/ STs

In 2020, Uttar Pradesh had the highest number of offences against Scheduled Castes (12,714).

Candidates can find the general pattern of the Civil Service Exam by visiting the UPSC Syllabus page.

Frequently Asked Questions on Crime in India Report

How to report cybercrime in india.

A victim can make an online cybercrime report in India at cybercrime.gov.in .

Visit cybercrime.gov.in for further information.
On the dropdown, choose ‘Report other cybercrimes.’
Select ‘File a Complaint’ from the dropdown menu.
Fill in your information while registering.
Fill in the essential information regarding the crime.

Whom to report cybercrime in India?

Submit a complaint to the nearest/any Cyber cell.
Register an FIR in a police station.
Complain cybercrime.gov.in .

How can I report online cybercrime?

You can register a Cyber Crime in India Report using the Government of India’s online cybercrime portal at cybercrime.gov.in .

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Home Essay Examples Criminology White Collar Crime

White Collar Crimes In India

Category Criminology
Subcategory Crime
Topic White Collar Crime

“White-collar crime is not new to India. The scale is. ”

Introduction, historical background.

Before Sutherland, scholars like W.A Bonger (1916) and Steffens has also emphasized on the misdeeds by businessmen and elites. Karl Marx and Friedrichs Engels have also contended that influential people commit crimes too.

Legal Framework

The legal framework in India is not so radical to deal with the issue of white-collar crime. There are no strict laws that can punish the offender as most of the offender getaway because of the lack of evidence. The other difficulty is that the members of the legislature who have been given the responsibility to make and implement rules are themselves cosset in these heinous crimes.

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The main reasons for which these white-collar criminals or occupational criminals go unpunished are because:

The lawmakers of the country are from the same social group;
The endeavor made by the police against these criminals in highly low;
Of easy bail and mild sentences; and
The effect of white-collar crimes is not on a particular individual thus it creates a causal attitude of the society towards white-collar crimes.

After the independence, the first case of white collar crime was Mundra’s case. India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru set up a commission headed by Justice M.C. Chagia to investigate the matter. Justice Chagia concluded that Mundhra had sold imaginary shares to Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) by defrauding the insurance company to the tune of INR 1.26 Crore. Mundhra was sentenced to 22 years in prison.

Another incident that took place at the beginning the 21th century was The Satyam scam. The scam involved the fraud of INR 7000/- billion. Few years back, CBI arrested many Trinamool Congress leaders for the alleged involvement in INR 24.60 billion chit fund scam.

After the rise of the Indian economy, many companies from the private sector and the public enterprise have been comprises in the corporate swindling and outrageous wrongdoing. It is because of all these swindle the ordinary man is frightened to imbue in the equity vend.

Corruption is one of the vanquish appearances of crimes in India. It has been into extant for many centuries. Even Chanakya has alludes to the diverse forms of corruption during his time. Many political parties have promised to eradicate corruption. However, the offenders in these types of crimes are usually government officials or the politicians themselves between 2010 to 2012 Central Bureau of Investigation has registered over 1450 cases.

Causes Of White Collar Crimes

Greed – Upper-class people are pecuniary secure but they still perform crime because of their avarice to be paid more. And for this impetus, they even pick illegal method to have an economic procure;
Competition – Darwin in his hypothesis of evolution has stated that “survival of the fittest” is obligatory and thus there will always be rivalry for survival but some people for their own avarice and to get ahead of their squint enact crimes;
No fixed laws or punishment – After determining the crimes, most of the offenders gets away without getting any penalizing because there are not adequate laws to pact with such kind of offences. In numerous cases, because of the extraordinary political relation most of the wrongdoer gets away without any penalizing. Besides, many cases there are no witnesses for the said offenses as such offenses are committed to private.

White-collar crime has not been defined anywhere in any act or codes; however, there are various legislations that touch the scope of white-collar crime. These legislations include The Foreign Exchange Management Act, Companies Act, Prevention of Money Laundering Act, and Import and Export Control Act.

In the present scenario, our top law enforcement agencies such as Central Bureau of Investigation, the Enforcement Directorate, the Income-tax Department, require to be build up. Top grade officials should be consistently by bodies inspect such as Central Vigilance Commission. If these agencies are build up then only the issue of white-collar criminality can be controlled.

It is the responsibility of the government to provide enough powers to the law enforcement agencies because without the help of these agencies the corruption and other economic offenses cannot be eradicated from our country. Law enforcement officials should be provided with training. This training will not only help in tracking such crimes but will also make them differentiate white-collar crimes from other crimes.

Strict laws should be made to curb these types of crimes. It is seen that if found guilty the white-collar criminal gets away with trivial fines or lenient sentences. The approach used by the judiciary while punishing these criminals has failed to rein the threat of white-collar criminality. Thus, Fast track courts/tribunals should be schedule by assign more judges. The tribunals should be given potential to inflict fine and award sentence of anyone if found guilty for the said offence.

White- collar crimes are a huge global concern, and it is enlarging at frighten rate. Several studies have proved that the financial loss to society from white-collar crime is much more than the other crimes. India is a growing country, and white-collar crimes are not only detrimental to the economic growth of the land but also spoil the depiction of our country. It can be easily acknowledge that to get rid of white-collar crime is not easy at all because it has been into existing for many centuries. Legal entities should try to reduce such crimes.

As discussed earlier, strict laws and special tribunals should be made and implemented so that the offender should be afraid of the punishment and before committing any crime he should think twice. Moreover, government agencies should make a combined effort to eliminate such crimes from our country.

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Increasing Crime In India (Essay/Paper Sample)

Table of Contents

Increasing Crime in India

India is officially referred as Republic of India. It is country south of Asia and the second most populated country after China with over 1.2 billion people. The country is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and Arabian Sea to the southwest and borders the Pakistan to the west. A report published by the National Crime record showed that over the last 53 years, the crime rate in India has continuously increased over the time. Crimes such as murder and kidnappings have been in the rise. The study showed that murder had increased by 7.39 percent. Thus, for the recent years, crime in India has become very common and transpires in different ways

Illegal Drug Trade

Since India is located between two countries: Pakistan and Iran, it becomes more vulnerable on the borders. These two countries are the biggest makers of opium in Asia. The opium drug sold to smokers or can be made into heroine. Because of its location India receives a lot of heroin from these two countries. For the reason, a larger proportion of a young Indian population are involved in criminal activities and illegal business such as drug trafficking within India to other countries. Most heroin is trafficked from India to Europe through the ocean. The government of India has tried all the best ways to fight the trade but it has not succeeded.

Arms Trafficking

Basing on the reports published by Oxfam, India his believed to 40 million illegal firearms in possession. On the same report, the world has approximately 75 million small arms, which implies that India has half of the entire small firearms in the world. These firearms are manufactured from illegal arms factories in Bihar and traded in the black market at affordable prices. For instance, firearms such as the Chinese pistols are in high demand in India because they are easy to operate and have fire price. The availability of firearms has escalated the rate of crime especially In the Bihar state, which is highly affected by militia groups who are in constant attack with the army of India.

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Poaching and Wildlife Trafficking

It is illegal to kill some animals and there are laws that guard against the poaching of animals. For the recent years illegal wildlife trade has been increase in India. A report by the Environmental investigation agency in the year 2004 said that more illegal traders of wildlife skins are in India than any other country. In between the year 1994 and 2003 the government discovered that there were approximately 780 case of illegal poaching of endangered animals such as tigers, leopard and elephant. In the southern parts of India, there is a serious problem of elephant poaching, which has led to hundreds killings of the elephants.

In India cybercrime is a very common crime. Cybercrime refers to crimes that uses the technology to execute crimes. Such crimes include stalking, computer hacking, credit card hacking, cyberbullying, identity theft, as well as internet scams and frauds. In the year 2001 India and U.S. joined together to counter the cyber crime.

Apart from those few mentioned there are very many types of crime in India. As much as government has put several measures to stop all these crime, there are loopholes which have allowed these crimes to flourish. For India to fight and control high rate of crime, it has to strengthen its security measures with the aid of the judicial system.

Cybercrime and cybersecurity in India: causes, consequences and implications for the future

Published: 10 September 2016
Volume 66 , pages 313–338, ( 2016 )

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Nir Kshetri 1

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Cybercrime is rising rapidly in India. Developing economies such as India face unique cybercrime risks. This paper examines cybercrime and cybersecurity in India. The literature on which this paper draws is diverse, encompassing the work of economists, criminologists, institutionalists and international relations theorists. We develop a framework that delineates the relationships of formal and informal institutions, various causes of prosperity and poverty and international relations related aspects with cybercrime and cybersecurity and apply it to analyze the cybercrime and cybersecurity situations in India. The findings suggest that developmental, institutional and international relations issues are significant to cybercrime and cybersecurity in developing countries.

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Kshetri, N. Cybercrime and cybersecurity in India: causes, consequences and implications for the future. Crime Law Soc Change 66 , 313–338 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10611-016-9629-3

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Essay on Crime against Women in India

Read this essay to learn about crime against women in India and its prevention. After reading this essay you will learn about:- 1. Subject-Matter of Crime against Women in India 2. Forms of Crime against Women in India 3. Crime and Violence in Work Places 4. Rape 5. Causes and Prevention of Crime against Women 6. Electronic Media and Films 7. Combating Trafficking in Women and Children and Other Details.

List of Essays on Crime against Women in India and its Prevention

Essay Contents:

Essay on the Prevention of Trafficking in India

1. Essay on the Subject-Matter of Crime against Women in India:

Aggression, violence and crime against women who comprise about 48-49 percent of the population is not a matter of joke. I have devoted two separate chapters to gender discrimination and violence against women in view of the importance of the problem. Gender discrimination, violence and crime against women are all interrelated and overlap with each other.

In fact, one leads to the other. Though literally crime and violence are different, the difference is very subtle. Literally, violence means unlawful exercise of force/physical force while crime is a wicked act punishable by law.

Crime is an offence. Crime is an antisocial act. It can be both organised and unorganized, while violence is usually unorganized and occurs more at the spur of the moment. However, crime and violence are used interchangeably by the common man because of the subtle difference between the two.

Gender discrimination, crime and violence all are the outcome of hostility and aggression against men. Biologically as well as socially men are more aggressive and dominant than females, females being considered (though not really) as a weaker section of the society. So they become the targets of discrimination, violence and crime by the most powerful class of the society, the man.

The seriousness and frequency of violence and crime against women is well evident when the pages of daily news papers are turned, when the television is viewed. Daily hundreds of cases of murder, rape, molestation, sexual abuse and eve-teasing, forcing women to prostitution etc. are reported by media. Even important T.V. channels have also started showing real cases of crime against women.

A young married woman of Faridabad was burnt to death because of dowry. A young girl in her early teens belonging to a very poor family was murdered by a group of criminals because her father objected to Mk! obscene advances of the gang towards the girl.

Numerous such instances could be quoted which happen every day. Some of these are recorded and probably most of them go unrecorded because of fear and family prestige.

Not only in India, even in most advanced countries cruelty and crime against women are also rampant with large instances of broken marriages, divorces and ruined homes. It is indeed shameful how in a so called civilized society full of civilized people this could happen against their mothers, sisters and wives.

If they would think and visualize of their sisters, wives and mothers at the time of committing the crime, probably they may withdraw from this heinous act.

A married woman called Lily was burnt to death by her in laws in Orissa because of dowry. Though Orissa is a peace loving state dowry death and rape cases are also on the rise here. Many of the crimes go unreported to police because of social stigma.

As per the reports in New Indian Express August 1, 2004 in Hyderabad one woman is killed every 10 days due to sexual jealousy. Below are some cases reported by the above paper on the crime and murder against women because of sexual jealousy.

1. Sree Laxmi a gold medalist and a M.C.A. student while appearing in the examination was killed by a young man whose love was rejected by Sree Laxmi. Without any provocation he took away a butcher’s knife from his T shirt and in a flash gave her so many blows as a result she died instantly. But the man walked out as casually as he had entered leaving behind the victim in a pull of blood.

2. In the neighbouring Ranga Reddy district three women are murdered every fort night for the same reason. Vijaya Wada, tops the state with an average 1237 cases of crime against women every year. Hyderabad is next with 959 cases, Visakha Patnam recorded 306 cases, Karim nagar district has the dubious distinction of recording an average of 95 rapes each year.

The case of Prasanna Laxmi who was killed in 1997 by her classmate in Gunthur made headlines. Here too the reason was sexual jealousy. She had not reciprocated his love. On 15th July 2004 B. Padmavati, an eighth standard student was doused with kerosene and set on fire by her lover because she refused to reply to his love letter.

Incidents of acid throwing and murder threats are frequent in many districts of Andhra Pradesh and Orissa. But unfortunately most of the cases go unreported as the victims are very scared of the social stigma and further attacks of the culprit due to revenge. Murder of young women due to sexual obsession and jealousy are also found in other states.

On July 26th in Delhi, Rithika Chowdhury 15, was stabbed to death in broad day light on her way to school by one Mangal Singh claimed to be her boy friend. He allegedly stabbed Ritika more than 10 times. On July 24th Kanchan, 22, was killed by Nikhil a possessive lover and graphic designer by profession. He killed Kanchan with a barber’s razor inside Delhi zoo as he grew suspicious of her movements.

In 1996, N. Koteswari a junior college student of Ongole in A.P. was killed in broad day light near the Saibaba temple. Her rejection of a proposal from a boy seems to be the reason for her murder.

In 1998 a 12th standard girl named Sailaria from Kandukar in A.P. was allegedly raped and murdered, probably by a youth claiming to be her lover. In 1999 Kala Chowdhury a 12th standard girl was missing from Ongole, A.P. She was killed, but the clue is yet to be found. Two of the witnesses died few months back under mysterious circumstances.

In Orissa, recently a college girl called Biswarupa was found murdered probably due to similar reasons. There are thousands and thousands of cases of crime against women due to sexual jealousy which go unreported. What is it that drives the educated youths to commit such henius crimes against women?

Is it due to jealously, possessiveness or hostility as love and hate go together? We will come to be causes later on. Reports about crimes in “Crime in India” and other sociological, criminological journals do indicate the seriousness of the problem.

2. Essay on the Forms of Crime against Women in India:

A. simple individual acts like eve teasing, wife beating:.

This has been discussed under violence against women. Prostitution is a type of rape where the womanâ€™s willingness is forced.

Some of the important forms of crime against women are listed below:

B. Prostitution:

It is a crime. Though appears to be a crime committed by women, it is actually committed by men against women. Analysis of hundreds and thousands of case studies and various observations reveal that it is the society and it is the male folk who drive the woman to commit such an illegal act to which they become a party. Women cannot commit this Social Crime without the help of men.

No one can go for prostitution according to her own sweet will. Various financial, social and psychological constraints drive one to this business and these constraints are made by men. If men really want that prostitution should be abolished they should stop going to prostitutes which they do not do for reasons best known to them.

C. Homicide:

It may be intentional murder or forcing women to take their lives by committing suicides. These crimes committed against women lead to a considerable degree of pain and suffering in women. They feel physically, economically and psychologically in-secured after these crimes.

The cumulative strains which follow from these crimes lead to severe mental distress in women. Records show that the incidence of each category of these crimes is very high in India and elsewhere.

These crimes would be more than what records show as most of the crimes (eve teasing and molestation) in conservative societies are never reported, because of the victim’s inherent hesitation to complain about such matters. The crime of wife heating also goes unreported hundred percent. Data show that in 1981 total number of recorded crime against women was 28,050.

These crimes against women are more often than not one sided, without provocation and the victim is an innocent individual. The logic is that the victim in such crimes is an innocent, helpless and physically weak person than the victimizer and hence fails to defend herself

The crime against women may also be organised and un-organised When previous conspiracy is made to murder a woman or rape her and a number people are involved to commit the crime as per the plan, it is an organised crime. Murder of a woman for property, revenge or vindictiveness may be called an organised crime.

In case of un-organised crime, the crime is committed without any preplan or through any racket. The tendency to commit the crime arises all of a sudden, at the spur of the moment. Sexual assault against minor children can said to be the meanest crime. In certain cases a pervert first kills the minor girl child and then rapes her. In such an incident in Orissa the culprit has been sentenced with life.

3. Essay on the Crime and Violence in Work Places:

We often read and see in the media how working women are subjected to discrimination and sexual harassment. Taking the advantage of their tender mind, low assertiveness, and economical needs, their senior workers, employers and persons in high posts in their office start harassing them sexually.

Some years back I read in a news paper how a lady employee working in a very big computer firm in U.S.A. was sexually harassed by the employer and head of that company who was an Indian. The lady started a suit in the court of law and received huge compensation.

In U.S.A and other developed countries work place harassment are not rare and the harassed women usually report the matter to the suitable authority or court of law for justice and compensation. In India harassment of the women employees by their employers, sexual advances of the officer towards his Personal Assistant or Private Secretary, Seniors on the subordinate women workers are also on the rise.

But such cases are very often not reported due to the fear of losing the job, social stigma and further harassment by the culprit. About a year back an allegation came out in the paper as well as T.V. news how the M.D. of a big company tried to sexually molest one of the employees of the same company based at Bombay.

It was planned through a middle man said to be another employee of the same company. Thanks to her courage, the woman complained the matter and both the officers were arrested. There was a lot of hue and cry on this in the media. Even the woman was said to be allured to withdraw the case and when she did not, she was threatened. I donâ€™t know the fate of the case today.

There are also out of court settlements in such issues where the case is settled outside the court on payment of compensation. According to me along with punishment to the culprit some compensation should be provided to the victim for rehabilitating and providing her financial support in a callus society. The compensation may be collected from the offender as fine.

Reports are found very often about the girl students being sexually harassed by their teachers and professors. Allowing the girls to give more marks in the examination these sexually pervert males make indecent advances towards the girls. If someone objects she is failed in the examination. Many such cases are not reported.

Shortly, news came up in New Indian Express about a third degree sexual assault change against a visiting professor from India. He was sentenced to 60 days in jail for sexually assaulting a student of U.S.A.

The professor made the plea that he touched the student because of the way she was dressed. Because of her plea the sexual offense of first degree was reduced to third degree. A^ first degree sexual abuse in U.S.A. carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison according to the daily NEBRASKAN reported in new Indian Express. The rules should be equally stringent in India to reduce crime against women.

A report published in Times of India Dt. 15.7.2004 indicates a 68 year Ex-Raw employee arrested for allegation of molesting a 15 year old girl. In Delhi, this year (2004) more than 200 cases of molestations have been reported so far. Last year (2003) in Delhi 475 cases of molestation and 450 cases of rape were reported.

In another incident reported in the Times of India this year a 23 year old woman was allegedly raped by her former employer and his friend in Delhi. There are innumerable cases like this to support the view that crimes against women are on the rise. A substantial number of unreported crimes against women make the case of women more complicated.

Some people hold the view that because more and more women come out of their house to work outside, to work and study in schools and colleges, to find jobs, so they are exposed to the external world of man and are subjected to violence. Some also argue that the scanty modern dress worn by girls and women motivate the men to commit sexual crimes. The way one is dressed indicates one’s personality.

So in my view women should be dressed dignifiedly so that males will respect them and would not be allured. Though a section of people do not agree with this, I as a woman and a psychologist with vast years of experience in teaching and administration do hold that the dress of the woman is to some extent responsible, but it is not the sole cause of crime against women.

The causes of committing sexual crimes and abuses also lie in the person who commits the crime. Social perversions and sick minds, lead to such antisocial behaviour.

Rape and murder of women should be considered crime of great order. To device a system to protect women from such indecencies and indignities is most urgent and should be given priority and the victims should be sympathetically treated at the hands of the society. The family violence’s should be dealt with the family members and any outside interference will damage the delicate husband wife relationship.

However, the responsibility of the society is to prevent and warn the culprits outside home like eve teaser, harassment on the road and sexual assault in public private places. Society should not close its eyes when it sees women being harassed.

The society is also to share the blame for discouraging women from seeking justice in the plea by bad reputation and social stigma. She is told that by complaining she will not get any justice but will definitely get a bad name and hence silence becomes the best policy.

This is why it is difficult to enforce the existing legal provisions against eve teasing and eve teasing rises day by day. A substantial number of cases are seen where girls make an end to their lives by not being able to tolerate constant and continuous eve tearing and harassment due to their sensitive nature as they have no other alternative.

Want of police force to intervene in cases of Eve teasing and wife beating also lead to the rise in such cases.

Intervention by police may also lead to greater hostility and ill feeling between husband and wife. Nongovernment organisation and social bodies finding for the cause of women, electronic media may function as “WATCH GUARDS” or “WATCH DOGS” to prevent such antisocial behaviour.

They should bring to the notice of appropriate authorities such crimes so that the culprit will be scared of the social watch dogs and stop doing sexual and other crimes against women.

If the society organizes itself collectively to raise its voice against sexual crimes, the women will also feel encouraged and motivated to openly voice their sufferings instead of suppressing everything.

Thus vigilance of the local people on crimes and violenceâ€™s against women will monitor information of ill treatment and even carry out social punishments which were prevalent during old times such as punishments given by village bodies and panchayats like total segregation of the culprit from all social functions held in the village, non participation in the social functions of the culprit, no conversation or relation with the culprit or his family etc.

Thus by boycotting the criminals and their associates socially, as was done in the past they may be forced to accept the prescribed-social norms without being prone to break them. This is probably the most effective way of preventing and punishing social crimes.

The police and justice should also give exemplary punishments to the law violators and to those who do wrongs, go against the social norms and social sanctions.

4. Essay on Rape:

Rape, as an atrocity is the most un-excusable crime found in humanity. It is to my mind more dangerous than murder. When you murder a woman, she is gone and she does not experience any humiliation after death. But a rape victim leads a life of continuous and unbelievable suffering and mental agony. She is considered an out caste in her own family as well as in the society.

She becomes the victim of familial and social hatred and unacceptable in the society. How many males would like to marry a rape victim on their sweet will? A rape victim is at no fault for her rape.

So why should she be a social out caste; an organism of hatred and despise? For the entire life she suffers and suffers as rape leaves a permanent scar on her. She has no place at her own home and no place in the society. So mostly she considers to make an end to her life.

Now a days in many cases rape is being legalized through marriage. The person who raped her is asked by the villagers or society or even by the courts with the consent of the victim to marry the rape victim. Sometime back I saw a movie in television where the rape victim gets married to the victimizer as a part of social justice.

Though it is a type of adjustment, it does not give justice to the woman raped because for the entire life the woman is reminded that her husband is a rapist, he is a criminal and hence she is full of hatred for her.

So she fails to love and respect her husband, she is scared when her husband wishes to have sex with her. She is reminded of the incident whenever her husband makes sexual advances to her. The post rape trauma is extremely painful and pathetic for the poor victim.

Besides punishing the rapists very stringently, the woman raped should be provided with counselling and therapy to give up her guilty feeling for an incident for which she is not responsible. In-spite of such horrible and unfortunate incidents in woman’s life, a woman has to live ill this world.

Suicide is not the solution. One has to learn to forget the past, consider such crimes as incidents of life without her control and so she should not make her responsible and feel guilty.

In developed and most civilized countries the social stigma attached to rape is not as high as it is considered in our conservative societies. So while trying to prevent rape and provide stringent punishment to the culprit one should also learn the management of rape.

With a practical outlook one has to live in the society. Women who live after rape should remember this. Prostitution is a kind of rape. It outrages the modesty of a woman with forced consent.

The belief that a woman is weak, submissive and cannot protect herself, enable many devils to rape. Women also consider themselves weak. So they fail to protect themselves from the clutches of the rapist though a few succeed or retaliate.

The illusion about a womanâ€™s personality further encouraged by the social standards leads one to attack the woman and outrage her modesty. Caste prejudices also give rise to atrocities against women. Persons belonging to the higher castes, rape women of lower castes in rural areas only to show their physical superiority.

Secondly in the plea of helping financially many rich people call the women to their house for the purpose fulfilling their sexual urge.

To stop such atrocities against women perhaps very less has been done. The single most important cause of criminal assault against women is the illusion, the myth of the society on the weakness of woman. Further society has allowed this myth to grow. Those in administration and society have perhaps failed to equip the woman to defend themselves against physical outranges. The social system has allowed it to grow.

A society which builds ones personality can also be changed by human beings. There has been very little organised attempt to make girls and women physically fit to combat against the male criminals. Very little provision for physical training, athletics and skills like karate have been there in India to fight against the culprits. So more and more physical training centre.

Yoga exercise schools, and karate centres should be opened and they should be provided training to make them physically fit to prevent any attack against them. More and more pictures and serials should be telecast to make women physically fit. Reporting of violence should be quick, F.I.R. should be accepted at once, and delay should not be made in investigation and in awarding justice.

All the bottlenecks and blockings should be cleared with immediate effect. Though there are women and child welfare departments in the centre and states, their activity should be effective and widened. The departments and Mahilla Commissions should work united to reduce and prevent atrocities against women.

Village and Dist. level Mahilla Commissions should be established with effective persons to perform their responsibility. The culprit should be given punishment at the earliest. The Mahilla commissions should be given ample power to deal with the culprits effectively.

Above all, education of women and girls should be given the first priority to prevent crimes against women. Rehabilitation of victims of rape and violence is essentially a responsibility of the society. Various government, nongovernment organisation and social activists should find out ways and means to rehabilitate them, so that they can live in the society with respect and dignity.

Instead of despising them men should be liberal towards the women with broad outlook. Society should honour them like any other woman who is not a victim of rape or sexual assault.

She should be accepted by the society physically, socially and mentally. She should not be considered as a social out caste, but should be entrusted with any responsibility for which she is suitable. Authors should take the cause of women more extensively.

Edfried Jelineck a woman got the noble prize for literature for her outstanding work. Novels and plays in which she attacked violence against women, explores sexual and political violence in Europe.

There is so much to say regarding crime and violence against women, that the more one says about it, the less is said it is felt. Some data on atrocities and violence against women in Madhya Pradesh between 1991 to 2000 is presented below as a sample to prove objectively the atrocities against women.

From the above data it is evident that in the year 2000 the crime against women recorded in Madhya Pradesh has been maximum i.e., (17902) and shows that rape has been maximum in the age group of 19-30 yrs. up to 10 years it is 3.74%, years. Between 11-15 years it is 16%, between 16 to 18 years it is 26.54%. Between 19 to 30 years it is 39.36%. between 31 to 50 years it is 13.11% and above fifty it is 1.25%.

These are the registered cases with police. But the actual numbers of rape are much more because most of the rape cases are not registered with police clue to social stigma and fear for the victimizers. Again many rape criminals are acquitted because of want of evidence.

In Chennai State 362 cases under rape and 5937 cases under Immoral traffic Prevention Act was reported in 1998. The number of cases under dowry death was not much. It was reported high at Chennai City and Chengalpattu with 19 cases each while it was NIL in Namakkal, Pudukottai, Thanjavur, Trichy District and Theni Dist.

5. Essay on the Causes and Prevention of Crime against Women:

While several common factors of crime exist, the cause of each type of crime is different. The causes of crime against women due to frustration in love or sexual jealousy may be psychological. When a person loves someone blindly and possessed by the love he shows pathological characteristics and looses his control on himself.

His destructive tendency overcomes his ego and he commits the crime. Those people who are highly influenced by gender discrimination and gender prejudice may not hesitate to commit an offense against the woman whom they hate. Further when complaints are made against the culprit the matter is not taken seriously by the police.

The law and order authority probably think that the woman is telling a lie or exaggerating; so they take it lightly. Sometimes political pressure or other benefits stand on the way of justice. Even in certain cases it is seen that when a rape victim comes to the police station to file a F.I.R against the culprit, it is in many cases not accepted.

Even in certain cases the police rapes the victim. Thus one who should have given protection and justice, himself does the crime. In Oriya, there is a saying that when RAKHYAKA becomes the VAKHYKA (i.e. when the protector becomes the victimizer what the woman can do.

The attitude of the law and order authorities towards the crime against women can be fully understood from the following news report which came up in the new Indian Express on April 14th under the head line “Girl raped by in laws, cops say it is common”. A teen ager (13) girl married a year back to a much older man at Bhagalpur; Bihar came to the Bhagalpur court and was waiting for her lawyer.

She had to make a complaint with the police, regarding repeated rape by the brother of her sister in law, but the police refused to accept her complaint. Accidentally she met Mr. Sharma a lawyer who took her to Bhagalpur S.P. The S.P. marked the complaint to the Barari Station in charge.

The S.P directed her to a constable Mr. Chowdhury who told her not to pursue the case, he is investigating it. While the law requires that a rape complaint be filed forth with, the constable did not even have a copy of the complaints he claimed to be investigating.

On his suggestion to the girl, to give up the fight. Chowdhury says “Her father wants to protect her honour.” However S.P Bhagalpur assures he would have the F.I.R. registered.

It may be relevant to mention here that when the girl complained before the in laws about this sexual abuse they said it was okay. Even her husband did not show any interest when she complained before her. This case is more of a rule than an exception in North Bihar.

A recent survey by Bhumika Vihar, a Katihar based organisation says trafficking in girl children is rampant in the districts of north Bihar. Fake child marriages in poor families are the most common tactic of brokers.

The victim’s case is typical of marrying a young girl, then the entire house hold of the husband raping her before selling her off to a pimp”, says activist Arun Kumar. The victim’s lawyer also agrees with this. He says “By forcing sex on her, the husband must have been trying to habituate her.

In the 58 villages that Bhumika Vihar volunteers surveyed in the last year, there were 204 cases in which girls were trapped in marriages. A third of them remained untraceable and in 63 cases parents also showed no interest in locating them. “It is as much about gender bias as it is about poverty.” says Kumar.

Thus the above is a burning example why crimes against women are on the rise. The approach of the authorities towards women encourages the criminals.

Santha Sinha, a Ramon Magsasay award winning sociologist and Professor of central university, Hyderabad says “We live in a male dominated society where men have a superiority complex. They want women to submit to them. Many of the accused think that it is not wrong to attack girls who don’t respond to them.” The murder of the girls by sexual jealous lovers has explained in the above way.

The accused in case of Rithika’s murder case told before a television channel “I killed her because she ditched me. She deserved it.” In many cases a ditched positive lover thinks that if he cannot have her, nobody else should. Here is an obsessed man who does not want others to marry his beloved and be happy. In many cases he throws acid on her face to make her look ugly and in extreme cases he murders her out of rage.

Dr. Anil Kumar Jha, a retired professor of psychology J.N. university holds “From Childhood they want everything they wish. They turn violent when you say no to them. Parents can nip such tendencies in the child if they are alert and keep track of their childrenâ€™s’ day to day activities.”

Referring to Shakespear’s great tragedy Othello psychologists call such behaviour as “Othello Syndrome”. This syndrome is characterized by recurrent accusations of morbid jealousy, suspicion and a kind of possessive love.

Such a tendency if exaggerated lead to disruption in marital life, may lead to homicide and suicide. It is therefore a dangerous tendency and is responsible for crime against women. At least 5 to 10 percent of the psychiatric symptoms are related to the Othello syndrome, says Jha. In some cases alcohol exaggerates such behaviour.

6. Essay on Electronic Media and Films:

To-day many crimes and violence’s are caused against women because of the violence shown against women in movies and television. Particularly the effect of television is obvious. Violence in films, and serials showing eve teasers and harassing women as heroes and character actors influence the rise of crimes in women. This will be discussed in detail in separate chapter.

i. Lack of Social Awareness Responsibility, Support and Immediate Reporting:

It is now a days normally seen that when a woman is harassed on the road in the broad day light, many people and the passersby just enjoy it and even if some people like to come to the rescue of the distressed woman, they never come because of social awareness and also because they are scared of their own life. Some people just don’t care considering it as a normal, day to day event.

More often those who see the crime are scared to give witness. Many otherwise good friends decline to say anything against the culprits. If nobody gives witness and even if anybody gathers courage and gives witness, he or she is harassed and even killed. Such instances of killing the witnesses by unidentified persons are very common to-day.

Police and law and order authority must give protection to those who come willfully to give evidence against the culprit. In most of the cases the culprits are not punished because of want of evidence. To give justice to women and reduce crime against them, these problems are to be solved.

Saraswati Das who recently died at SCB Medical College, Cuttack, Orissa after she gave a shocking dying declaration alleging sexual abuse by other-men in which her own brother and mother were involved tells the extent of sexual abuse at home where women think they are quite safe. Report on the above case came out in the New Indian Express Dt. 1.6.2004.

This is the case of one Saraswati but many such Saraswatis, Laxmis and Draupadis all over the country are subjected to gender discrimination, violence, atrocities, physical assault and murder. While most of them go unnoticed and forgotten with the passage of time, in most of the reported cases no action is taken against the culprits due to want of evidence.

Our prevailing socio-cultural conditions, customs, bias against women, red tapism, delay and negligence by the police may be due to what-ever reasons, are the main causes of injustice to women. What is most shocking is that most of the sexual violences like eveteasing, sexual assault and murder due to sexual jealousy, dowry and family quarrels are never reported to the public and the police.

Abhijit Das of Sahyog, a Lucknow based N.G.O while speaking on “Population, development and gender” in a three day workshop commented it is high time that we must get rid of the private sphere psychology and make crime against women public. Otherwise the culprits are encouraged repeating the same crime again and again in the future.

Workshops like this on womens’ problems are very essential to sensitise men including mediamen. To prevent crime against women, crime and violence against women should under no circumstances go unreported.

ii. Delay in Disposal of Cases :

It is said that justice delayed is justice denied. It is found that disposal of crime and violence cases take long years. Take the case of Dhananjaya Chatterjee of Kolkata. The case took 14 years for final punishment. Justice after so long years looses it real purpose.

Hence the causes of such delays should be traced by all concerned and action taken so that justice can be awarded quickly. Because of delay in giving justice culprits are encouraged to increase their crime against women.

An interview was conducted to find out the causes of crime from 50 social scientists, criminologists, psychologists, physicians, psychiatrists, social workers, police officers and respectable citizens. From the interview it was concluded that no single factor can be attributed to the crime against women. It is an interaction of so many factors like geographical, social, cultural, economic and environmental factors.

It is the tradition in the society to consider women an object of enjoyment. In traditional Indian society polygamy, (marring several women), sexual exploitation of women, and atrocities against women were considered as customs. In the old age along with luxurious goods a young woman was given as gift.

iii. Society :

From that period a woman was considered as an object of enjoyment. Even to-day this attitude exists in society. Sixty percent of the participants viewed this to be the impact of television culture. In television and movies usually women are depicted as objects of beauty, love and enjoyment. 80% of the respondents blamed the Indian society for its attitude towards women.

iv. Illiteracy :

During the Vedic age women were equal with men in relation to education, knowledge, respect and dignity etc. This is why, women occupied high position in the society. In the middle age however educational standard of women went downward.

Though after independence stress was given on the literacy and education of women still women remain behind the national average in literacy. Out of 42 crores illiterates in India, as much as 25.78 crore women are still illiterate.

Women can fight against the social injustice towards girls and women through educational empowerment. 95 percent of the respondents agreed that illiteracy and want of education is the main reason behind atrocities against women: 90 percent say that in rural areas most of the atrocities against women are not registered and reported to police.

Even in localities of towns where girls education is low such atrocities are not reported.

It is more funny even to find in the 21st century women accepting gladly atrocities against them. On 15.10.2004 at 8.30 P.M. E.T.V. Oriya telecasted the serial “Crime File”, where a woman was heard saying “we are also beaten by our husbands on and off, but we stay peacefully.” This is funny.

This was said with reference to the murder of a woman by her husband under the influence of alcohol. Unless women fight against the injustice and inhuman treatment made to them no power in the earth can prevent the atrocities against women. For this fight education of women gets the top priority which is a basic factor of woman empowerment.

v. Film Television, News Papers and Other Mediums of Propaganda :

The use of women in advertisements, in the role of models and various characters shown in films and televisions is one of the basic reasons of crime against women. This was viewed by 75 percent of the respondents in the above study.

From the advertisements using young and beautiful women in various dresses it is invariably felt that as if without women no advertisement is possible, as if viewers always want to see bodies of beautiful women in scanty dresses. Similarly violent and sex films are also responsible for violence against women as the viewers think that the acceptable things are shown in T.V. and so they also start imitating it in practice.

The Censor Board seems to be doing not much work in this regard. The songs including dance sequence shown in Bollywood films like “CHOLI KE PICHE KYA HAI”, or “TOO CHIJ BADI HE MAST MAST” are the burning examples of how women are still considered as objects of enjoyment.

It is a shame that only very few protested against this, but ultimately nothing happened. Should we not switch off the television when such ugly songs and dance sequences are shown as a mark of respect to womanhood in general and to our mothers, sisters and wives in particular?

vi. Sexual Attraction :

All the respondents (100 percent) agreed that the sexual attraction for women which is instinctual in man (the sex instinct) is responsible for all sexual crimes. Todayâ€™s films and televisions also support this attitude. But that sexual urge is to be restricted and fulfilled only as per the social norm is being forgotten by many males in the society.

Even when the husband cohabits with his wife without her conscience that amounts to rape. Because of the influence of Western Civilization (where restrictions on sex are very few) India’s youths are running after sexual pleasure irrespective of the sexual restrictions imposed by the society.

Further urbanization, industrialization, desulfurization, westernization, Fobs, night clubs, bars open till midnight advertisements related to sex and wine, have polluted the Indian Socio Cultural climate, its morality and values. This has led to abduction, kidnapping, eve teasing, harassment, rape and murder of women.

vii. Low Status of Women at Home :

The position of women in the society and family was very high in the ancient time. Even after that period women were highly respected in the family. They had a say in all decisions made. A woman was called “Janani” because she gave birth to children, raised them and they helped in the growth of generation.

They were called ‘DUHITA’ because they are helpful for both the parents and also in laws. But with the passage of time men tried to attack women because men wanted to be the sole owner of all unmovable and movable properties. Thus, they tried to fulfill their selfish interest by undermining the role of women in family.

They tried to suppress and repress them, kept the girl child at home without sending her to school, asked the women to do all the house hold work, even to bring water from a distance of 5 K.M., to work in the field and then came back and do house hold work. This practice is also continuing to-day in about 65 to 75 percent of villages of India. Education and assertiveness can eradicate crime due to low status of women.

viii. Irresistible Desire for Wealth :

In this materialistic age, irresistible desire to acquire wealth is spreading like an infectious disease. This tendency to become rich over night without any effort is culminated in the addiction to dowry. Torture and dowry deaths are increasing day by day for this disease of the society. Through Anti Dowry Act Govt. have tried to prevent this crime, But social awareness is required to make the anti dowry act effective.

ix. Moral Degradation :

Devaluation of moral values was agreed by all the respondents to be a major cause of crime against women-Nowadays heinous crimes are committed without thinking of its consequences. The effect of crimination in politics and inclusion of corrupted politicians in administration liberal legal systems in the name of democracy and freedom also seem to be deteriorating the moral standard of people, and lead to crime.

Moral education and social awareness are necessary to combat crime against women. All these causes of crime lead one to conclude that atrocities committed against women are to be irradiated by various agencies of the society such as through various social campaigns and awareness programmes, social support, legal protection, safeguards and reforms in the justice system.

Electronic and paper medias have a tremendous responsibility in this regard.

Despite various measures undertaken by government and various voluntary organisations the women in India continue to suffer compared to other developed countries due to lack of awareness of their rights, oppressive socio-cultural customs and above all lack of education.

By empowering women who are disadvantaged through education, health services, job opportunities, economic and legal support, by making reservation in educational institution and various professional, general and technical educations, by reserving seats in Assembly, Parliament and various jobs the low status of women can be raised, the bias, discrimination against them can be up rooted and crime against them can be prevented.

By bringing improvement in their personality factors, they can be made to compete with the males in the society which will also prevent crime against them.

x. Assertive Training :

It is seen that women are very often attacked physically and mentally because of their low self image, inferiority complex and low status in the society. By providing women with assertiveness training their self concept can be raised and they can face the attacks of male folks.

The assertiveness training method is applied to develop effective adjective behaviour as well as to desensitize the person. Assertive training is used when desired behaviors are prevented by personal timidity, inferiority feeling and interpersonal hesitancy.

Those persons like women and other weaker sections in our society who are afraid to express and insist up-on their legitimate rights can be taught to express themselves and assert their rights without fear. Usually socially withdrawn individuals like women, people of backward classes and neurotics are not assertive because they have been suppressed and oppressed not to speak against injustice.

The example of a non-assertive person is an uneducated, illiterate rural woman of India, who may remain silent when beaten, scolded or thrown out of the house. She has no inner power or voice to revolt and react. A non assertive person may remain silent if someone who is much behind him in a queue pushes him and goes ahead of him to buy a ticket.

Many women think that assertion is hostility or unsocial behaviour, so they don’t react. But assertion is not aggression, it is fighting for one’s right. Non assertive people are prone to develop fear, timidity and they don’t usually react to injustice. They are with-drawing type persons.

Before giving assertive training the degree of non assertiveness of the person in question is to be estimated through a questionnaire. Then depending upon his or her degree of assertiveness, the behaviour therapist presents the clients with a number of tasks in which they are asked to defend their rights.

They are trained to develop assertiveness if they fail to do so. As a result, they gain self confidence. The clients must be explained that assertiveness and hostility are not same and to be assertive need not necessarily means that one has to be hostile.

Duke and Nowicki (1979) in this context say â€œThe goal of the assertion therapist is to move the passive person from the extreme left side of the dimension to somewhere in the middle. Many people could benefit from moving from the extreme right towards the middle but such people rarely are as miserable as the non assertive person and usually don’t seek help. By giving assertive training to unassertive women with lower self concept either individually or in groups a lot of crime and violence against women can be combated and prevented.â€

7. Essay on Combating Trafficking in Women and Children:

Trafficking in women and girls is defined by the U.N. General Assembly 1994 as “the illicit and clandestine movement of persons across national and international boarders, largely from developing countries with the end goal of forcing women and girl children in to economically oppressive and exploitative situations, for the profit of reserve traffickers, and crime syndicates”.

Illicit trafficking in women and children is mostly found in developing countries like Nepal, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam. Women victims in these countries are trapped by t.lie criminals and organised crime groups who offer them high income jobs in other countries like India, Japan, Hong Kong, West Asia and even Europe.

Some of these women are even sold to other crime groups and forced in to prostitution. The fortunate ones are sold as maid servants in Gulf countries and Europe.

Similarly trafficking of children within the country is also quite high. Children are found trafficked from the villages to the various industries of towns and cities like carpet industry. Bidi industry, slaughterhouses, fishing industry etc. located in various parts of the country.

Trafficking has also a direct link with abduction and kidnapping. The report of National Crime Records Burreau (1998) indicates that 23,564 persons were abducted in 1998. This is an increase of 9% over the figure in 1997. Out of this 16380 relates to kidnapping and abduction of women and girls.

The reports of NGOs working in the area of immoral trafficking shows that every year an average of 20,000 persons mostly women and children from Nepal and Bangladesh join the prostitution business in India particularly in Mumbai, and Kolkata.

Tamil speaking Srilankans are engaged in flesh business in Tamil Nadu. Similarly several Maldivians, are reported to be allured to the organised sex racket in Bangalore, Trivandrum and near-by cities. Even illegal sex activities are undertaken through migration across the border. Investigation of several cases has exposed the activities of organised criminal groups and gangs in the immoral trafficking of women.

In a recent case in Goa a man was convicted by the court for running an orphanage to organize sexual orgies using boys in the age group of 5-15. Several foreigners used to visit him for this purpose.

They used to develop pornographic materials from the sex acts and transfer them to several parts of the world including Australia, Germany, Sweden and France for customers abroad. This nasty sex racket was exposed by social activists and N.G.O.s.

The cause of trafficking of women and girls originates from gender in equalities and are encouraged by violation of human-rights and poverty in developing and under developed countries. “Globalization, Liberalization and feminization of poverty have aggravated the situation”

8. Essay on the Prevention of Trafficking in India :

Trafficking is a preventable crime. By training and sensitization of law enforcing officials, and building up public support through awareness campaigns it can be prevented. N.G.O.s., Social activists, state government officials, the law enforcement officials, particularly the police, the prosecutor are required to be actively involved for its prevention.

Specific methods and technique, to combat trafficking are to be used to permanently prevent it. They are Action Research, Comprehensive law, National Monitoring agency, Integrated approach. Sensitization programmes, and Awareness Campaigns.

Among other things the Action research committee will survey the villages to identify the places where more women are trafficked and the number of missing children is more and then find out the cause of the same. Door to do survey on such women and children is essential to reach at the root cause.

Comprehensive Law:

The Law Commission and the National Commission for women have suggested appropriate changes in the existing law. A comprehensive law should be brought about keeping in view all facts of trafficking as per the U.N. convention and in accordance with the Article 23 of the Indian Constitution.

This low should include heavy punishment for traffickers, and sex abusers. It should have clear and specific provision for victim protection, victim compensation, exemplary fine of the accused, steps for preventing victimization finally it should also provide reintegration and rehabilitation of victims.

National Moniteering Agency:

Trafficking is an organised crime and a continued offence which spreads from countries to countries around the globe. Hence it should be monitored through a central agency which can coordinate the various activities related to trafficking. It should also act as a Resource Centre.

Integrated Approach :

Prevention of the crime protection and rehabilitation of victims and prosecution of the victimizers should be done in an integrated manner so that checking immoral trafficking can be possible. By providing legal and psychological counselling to the victims and reintegrating them with the community are essential aspects of integrated approach. They should also be economically and socially helped.

Sensitizing Programme:

The victims of prostitution and sex crimes should be handled cautiously as it is a sensitive matter. Handling the victims without sensitivity causes re-victimization.

The sensitization programmes should include law enforcement officials, govt. departments, N.G.O.s., Lawyers, academicians, prosecutors and judicial officers and a curriculum should be developed including case studies, which would indicate the true and correct picture in the field. Hence it appears that though combating illegal trafficking in women and children is a complex and difficult job it is not impossible.

Rehabilitation of the Victims of Crime
Essay on Violence against Women in India
Essay on Organised Crime | India
Essay on Crime in India

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Domestic violence in Indian women: lessons from nearly 20 years of surveillance

Rakhi dandona.

1 Public Health Foundation of India, Plot No. 47, Sector 44, Institutional Area, Gurugram, Haryana 122002 India

2 Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington, Seattle, USA

Aradhita Gupta

Sibin george, somy kishan, g. anil kumar, associated data.

The domestic violence related data used in these analyses are available at NCRB website ( https://ncrb.gov.in ) and from the authors on request. The GBD population data used in these analyses are available at GBD Results Tool | GHDx (healthdata.org).

Prevalence of self-reported domestic violence against women in India is high. This paper investigates the national and sub-national trends in domestic violence in India to prioritise prevention activities and to highlight the limitations to data quality for surveillance in India.

Data were extracted from annual reports of National Crimes Record Bureau (NCRB) under four domestic violence crime-headings—cruelty by husband or his relatives, dowry death, abetment to suicide, and protection of women against domestic violence act. Rate for each crime is reported per 100,000 women aged 15–49 years, for India and its states from 2001 to 2018. Data on persons arrested and legal status of the cases were extracted.

Rate of reported cases of cruelty by husband or relatives in India was 28.3 (95% CI 28.1–28.5) in 2018, an increase of 53% from 2001. State-level variations in this rate ranged from 0.5 (95% CI − 0.05 to 1.5) to 113.7 (95% CI 111.6–115.8) in 2018. Rate of reported dowry deaths and abetment to suicide was 2.0 (95% CI 2.0–2.0) and 1.4 (95% CI 1.4–1.4) in 2018 for India, respectively. Overall, a few states accounted for the temporal variation in these rates, with the reporting stagnant in most states over these years. The NCRB reporting system resulted in underreporting for certain crime-headings. The mean number of people arrested for these crimes had decreased over the period. Only 6.8% of the cases completed trials, with offenders convicted only in 15.5% cases in 2018. The NCRB data are available in heavily tabulated format with limited usage for intervention planning. The non-availability of individual level data in public domain limits exploration of patterns in domestic violence that could better inform policy actions to address domestic violence.

Conclusions

Urgent actions are needed to improve the robustness of NCRB data and the range of information available on domestic violence cases to utilise these data to effectively address domestic violence against women in India.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12905-022-01703-3.

The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target 5 is to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls, and the two indicators of progress towards this are the rates of intimate partner violence (IPV) and non-partner violence [ 1 ]. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated a 26% prevalence of IPV in ever-married/partnered women aged 15 years or more globally in 2018, and this prevalence is higher at 35% for southern Asia region in which India falls [ 2 ]. The self-reported domestic violence (majority by an intimate partner) in any form is reported between 33 to 41% among ever-married women from India [ 3 – 8 ]. Furthermore, the suicide death rate among women in India was reported to be twice the global rate [ 9 ], and housewives account for the majority of suicide deaths, the reasons for which are documented as “personal/social” [ 10 ].

Domestic violence was first recognized as a punishable offence in India in 2005 with the passing of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act (PWDVA) [ 11 , 12 ]. A significant focus of domestic violence against women in India has been on dowry-related harassment. Dowry is the transfer of goods, money and/or property from the bride’s family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage [ 13 ], initially meant to provide funds to women who were unable to inherit family property [ 14 ]. Dowry is very prevalent in India [ 15 ], and it has propagated domestic violence as means to extract money or property from the bride and her family [ 13 , 16 ]. While earlier sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) criminalized only dowry-related domestic violence, PWDVA expanded legal recourse for domestic violence beyond dowry harassment for more effective protection of the rights of women guaranteed under the Constitution who are victims of violence of any kind occurring within the family [ 11 ].

The major official source of surveillance for domestic violence in India are the reports compiled by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) [ 17 ]. Though under-reporting in NCRB reports is well documented for certain types of injuries [ 9 , 10 , 18 ], it remains the most comprehensive longitudinal source of domestic violence available at the state-level for India. We undertook a situational analysis for the years 2001 to 2018 using the NCRB reports to highlight the trends in the reported magnitude of domestic violence over time, to highlight the variations within country that could facilitate prioritization of immediate actions for prevention, and to discuss the limitations of the available NCRB reports for surveillance.

The primary source of the NCRB data is the First Information Report (FIR) completed by a police officer for any domestic violence incident which is compiled at the state level and provided to NCRB. FIR is a document prepared by police when they receive information about the commission of a cognizable offence either by the victim of the cognizable offence or by someone on their behalf [ 19 , 20 ]. It captures the date, time and location of offence, the details of offence, the details of victim and person reporting the offence, and steps taken by the police after receiving these details. The NCRB reports provide summary data based on these FIRs, which we utilized from 2001 to 2018 available in the public domain for this analysis. The details of data extracted and utilized are described below.

Type of data

Four crime headings corresponding to domestic violence related crimes against women were considered after consultation with legal experts who dealt with domestic violence cases based on the crime headings under which these are registered in India —cruelty by husband or his relatives, dowry death, abetment of suicide of women, and cases registered under PWDVA (Additional file 1 : Table S1). A case is filed under ‘cruelty by husband or his relatives’ (Section 498A of the IPC) when there is evidence of violence causing grave injury or of harassment to fulfil an unlawful demand for property [ 21 ]. Case of death of a woman within 7 years of marriage with evidence of dowry harassment is filed under dowry death (IPC Section 304B) [ 22 ]. As domestic violence is known as a risk factor for death by suicide among married women, we also considered the cases registered under abetment of suicide of women [ 23 ]. The cases under the PWDVA act criminalize perpetrators of domestic violence, defined to include physical, verbal, sexual, emotional and economic abuse in addition to dowry-related violence [ 11 ]. The NCRB reports data based on the “Principal Offence Rule,” which means that regardless of the number of offences under which a case of domestic violence is legally registered, it is reported only under the most serious crime heading by the NCRB [ 24 ].

Data extraction

NCRB reports included the number of cases filed as well as the number of victims under each of the four crime headings for 2014–2018 but reported only the number of cases filed from 2001 to 2013. The ratio of the number of cases to victims was 1.0 for 2014 to 2018, and hence we use the number of cases filed for this analysis from 2001 to 2018. Individual level-data is not published in the NCRB report.

Data for cruelty by husband or his relatives and for dowry death were available from 2001 to 2018, while data for abetment of suicide of women and PWDVA were available only from 2014 to 2018. We extracted the number of cases filed under each of the four domestic violence crime heads for each year for each state and for India. We also extracted data on the number of persons arrested under each crime category, which were available from 2001 to 2015 for the states and until 2018 for India. Here too, the data on abetment of suicide and PWDVA was available from 2014 to 2018 only. Lastly, we extracted data on the number of legal cases filed for these crimes and their current status in the judicial system. This legal data was available cumulatively for only India, and since it could not be extrapolated for each year from the tables, we analyzed this only for 2018.

Data analysis

Our analysis was aimed at understanding trends in the rate for each type of domestic violence crime heading. We calculated the rate of cruelty by husband or his relatives and dowry deaths from 2001 to 2018, and the rate of abetment of suicide of women and PWDVA from 2014 to 2018. As the NCRB reports do not specify the age of women who had reported these crimes, we assumed the age group of women to be 15–49 years to estimate the rates as the previous reports on domestic violence in India are predominately for women aged 15–49 years [ 25 – 31 ]. We used the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study 2019 state-wise annual population estimates for women aged 15–49 years as the denominator [ 32 ], and report the rates per 100,000 women aged 15–49 years with 95% confidence intervals (CI) estimated for these rates. We report these rates across three administrative splits: nationally, by groups of state and individual state. The state groups were populated based on the Socio-demographic Index (SDI) computed by the GBD study, which uses lag distributed income, average years of education for population > 15 years of age, and total fertility rate [ 9 , 32 ].

To assess the trends in arrests related to domestic violence crimes, we computed the mean number of people arrested under each crime heading by dividing the number of people arrested with the total number of cases. The statistical analysis was done using MS Excel 2016, and maps were created using QGIS [ 33 ]. As this analysis used aggregated data available in the public domain, no ethics approval was necessary.

Cruelty by husband or his relatives

A total of 1,548,548 cases were reported under cruelty by husband or his relatives in India from 2001 to 2018, with 554,481 (35.8%) between 2014 and 2018. The reported rate of this crime in India was 18.5 (95% CI 18.3–18.6) in 2001 and 28.3 (95% CI 28.1–28.5) in 2018 per 100,000 women aged 15–49 years, marking a significant increase of 53% (95% CI 51.7–54.3) over this period (Table (Table1). 1 ). This rate was 37.9 (95% CI 37.5–38.3) for the middle SDI states as compared with 27.6 (95% CI 27.4–27.8) in the low- and 18.1 (95% CI 17.8–18.4) in the high-SDI states in 2018 (Table (Table1). 1 ). This reported crime rate remained higher in the middle SDI states between 2001 and 2018 as compared with the other states, reaching its highest levels between 2011 and 2014 (Fig. 1 ). Wide variations were seen in the rate for reported cruelty by husband or his relatives in 2018 at the state-level, which ranged from 0.5 (95% CI -0.05 0–1.5) in Sikkim to 113.7 (95% CI 111.6–115.8) in Assam (Table (Table1 1 and Fig. 2 ). The state of Delhi, Assam, West Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Jammu and Kashmir documented > 160% increase in this reported crime rate during 2001–2018 (Table (Table1). 1 ). The greatest decline in the rate of this reported crime was seen in Mizoram, 74.3% from 2001 to 2018 (Table (Table1 1 ).

Rate (with 95% confidence interval) and percent change in rate of domestic violence crimes reported per 100,000 women aged 15–49 by states of India

SDI denotes Socio-demographic Index

*Telangana state was formed in 2014

# Data available from 2014 onwards

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Yearly trend in the rate of cruelty by husband or his relatives per 100,000 women of 15–49 years, 2001–2018. SDI denotes Socio-demographic Index

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Crime rate for cruelty by husband or his relatives per 100,000 women aged 15–49 years in 2018 in India, by state

Interestingly, the 53% increase in this reported crime rate between 2001 and 2018 for India was accounted for by increased rates for only a few states, and the rate remained stagnant in most states (Additional file 2 : Fig. S1, Additional file 3 : Fig. S2, Additional file 4 : Fig. S3). Only the states of Assam and Rajasthan among the low SDI states (Additional file 2 : Fig. S1), Andhra Pradesh and Tripura among the middle SDI states (Additional file 3 : Fig. S2), and Kerala and Delhi among the high SDI states (Additional file 4 : Fig. S3) showed increased reporting of this crime over the study period. The mean number of persons arrested under this crime in India decreased from 2.2 in 2001 to 1.1 in 2018, and the numbers were similar across the state SDI groups (Additional file 5 : Fig. S4).

Dowry deaths

A total of 137,627 crimes were reported as dowry deaths between 2001 and 2018, with 38,342 (27.9%) cases between 2014 and 2018. The rate of this reported crime in India was 2.0 (95% CI 2.5–2.7) in 2018 per 100,000 women aged 15–49 years (Table (Table1). 1 ). This rate in 2018 was 3.1 (95% CI 3.0–3.2) in the low-SDI states as compared to 1.2 (95% CI 1.1–1) in the middle- and 0.7 (95% CI 0.60–0.8) in the high-SDI states, and this trend was seen throughout the period studied (Table (Table1). 1 ). At the state level in 2018, this rate ranged from 0.11 (95% CI 0–0.32) in Meghalaya to 4.0 (95% CI 3.8–4.2) in Uttar Pradesh; no cases were reported in Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram or Nagaland (Table (Table1 1 and Fig. 3 ). The largest decline in this rate was seen in the states of Tamil Nadu and Gujarat over the study period (Table (Table1 1 ).

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Rate of dowry deaths per 100,000 women aged 15–49 years in 2018 in India, by state

The mean number of persons arrested for dowry deaths in India declined from 3 in 2001 to 2.3 in 2018. In 2001, this mean was markedly higher in the high-SDI states (4.9) than the low- (2.7) and middle- (2.6) SDI states. However, by 2015 this rate was higher in the low-SDI states (2.9) than high- (2.2) and middle- (1.8) SDI states (Additional file 5 : Fig. S4).

Abetment of suicide of women

Data under this crime head was available from 2014 to 2018, during which 22,579 cases were reported. The average rate of this crime was 1.27 (95% CI 1.25–1.29) per 100,000 women aged 15–49 years over this period. Overall, relatively higher rates were recorded in middle-SDI states (2.2; 95% CI 2.1–2.3), followed by high- (1.7; 95% CI 1.6–1.8) and low- (0.73; 95% CI 0.69–0.77) SDI states (Table (Table1). 1 ). Notably, the middle- and high-SDI groups recorded a similar rate in 2014, after which the middle-SDI states recorded a steady increase in rate until 2017, while the high-SDI states saw an initial dip in 2015 and then an increase till 2017. The rate in the low-SDI states remained low throughout this period (Table (Table1 1 ).

At the state-level in 2018, this rate ranged from 0.07 (95% CI 0.02 to 0.12) in Odisha to 4.0 (95% CI 3.6–4.4) in Telangana; no cases were reported in Bihar, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Sikkim and Nagaland (Table (Table1 1 and Fig. 4 ). While some states did not record any case, other states recorded significant changes between the 2014 and 2018. This rate in Tamil Nadu increased by 450% from 2014 to 2018, and West Bengal and Gujarat recorded an increase of over 100%, while this rate declined the most in Telangana, by 31% (Table (Table1). 1 ). The mean number of persons arrested for this crime in India recorded a small increase from 1.4 in 2014 to 1.7 in 2018, and was similar across the state SDI groups (Additional file 5 : Fig. S4).

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Rate of abetment of suicide of women per 100,000 women aged 15–49 years in 2018 in India, by state

PWDVA, 2005

A total of 2,519 cases were reported under PWDVA between 2014 and 2018, with an average crime rate of 0.14 (95% CI 0.13–0.15) per 100,000 women aged 15–49 years during this period (Table (Table1). 1 ). Majority of the states did not report any case under this Act (Table (Table1). 1 ). The mean number of persons arrested in India for this crime decreased from 1.6 in 2014 to 1 in 2018 (Additional file 5 : Fig. S4).

Status of the legal cases

A total of 658,418 cases were sent for trial in India in 2018, of which trial was completed in only 44,648 (6.8%) cases. Among the cases in which trial was completed, the offender(s) was convicted in only 6,921 (15.5%) cases.

In India between 2001 and 2018, the majority of domestic violence cases were filed under ‘cruelty by husband or his relatives’, with the reported rate of this crime increasing by 53% over the 18 years. However, it is important to note that only some states recorded change in the reported rate with the almost stagnant reported rate of domestic violence in many states over time. Significant heterogeneity was seen in the pattern of the four types of crimes at the state-level. Overall, the mean persons arrested decreased irrespective of the crime during the period studied, and less than 7% of the filed cases had completed legal trial in 2018. We discuss the gaps identified in the reported data which unless addressed have major implications in the facilitating action to reduce domestic violence against women in India.

The rate of reported crime under all the considered categories excluding dowry deaths in 2018 in India in the NCRB was close to the 33% self-reported domestic violence reported by women in the national survey in 2015–16 [ 3 ], though there is an indication that the prevalence of domestic violence could be as high as 41% in India [ 4 ]. The NCRB data provides passive surveillance with the source being the FIR filed by family/kin/community member with the police for a crime, and hence is dependent on the reporting from the community, which is known to be selective as women report less to the police for domestic violence due to various reasons including lack of social support, shame, and stigma [ 34 – 37 ]. These differences could account for differential rates of domestic violence between the police records and self-reporting of domestic violence in the surveys [ 3 , 4 ]. Recently, it is also shown that how women are asked about domestic violence in surveys can also result in different estimates [ 38 ]. Furthermore, the Principal Offence Rule followed by NCRB "hides" many cases of domestic violence as according to this Rule, each criminal incident is recorded as one crime. If many offences are registered in a single case, only the most heinous crime—one that attracts maximum punishment—is considered as counting unit [ 39 , 40 ]. For example, an incident involving dowry death and cruelty by husband or relative will be reported in NCRB as dowry death as it warrants the maximum punishment, thereby, underreporting the number of cases with cruelty by husband or relative.

The cases under cruelty by husband or his relatives accounted for the majority of reported cases, and the rate of this reporting was comparatively higher in the middle-SDI states over the years studied. Previous research using field notes from cases reported to police indicate that victims are often in an environment that condones violence through active encouragement or tacit approval by the husband’s family members; and that many women lack social support as they experience violence from multiple perpetrators at home [ 34 , 41 ]. It is plausible that this rate is higher in the middle-SDI states because material wealth is highly prized among the Indian middle class, and dowry is seen as an easy path to greater wealth and social status [ 12 ]. A higher dowry demand, and a greater dissatisfaction from inability to meet these demands could possibly result in more domestic violence in these states [ 12 , 42 , 43 ]. Another possible factor in these states could be that the increasing female literacy in these states may be perceived as a threat to the prevalent power structures, prompting violence against women as a means to reinstate control [ 12 , 44 – 47 ].

The middle-SDI states also had a higher rate of reported cases under abetment to suicide. The link between abuse and suicidal behaviour is well established, with research indicating that three out of ten women who undergo domestic violence are likely to attempt suicide [ 5 ]. Furthermore, a significantly higher suicide death rate is reported in Indian women than their global counterparts [ 9 ], and housewives account for the majority of these suicide deaths [ 10 ]. Wide state-level variations in the suicide death rate for women are also reported [ 9 ], and the relationship between the prevalence of domestic violence and suicide death rate needs to be explored further.

In contrast to the increased reporting of cases of cruelty over time, the rate of dowry death cases decreased from 2001 to 2018, with the low-SDI states recording the highest rate of dowry deaths. The dip in these cases may have resulted from the 2010 judgment requiring prior harassment of the victim associated with a dowry shortfall which made it harder to register a dowry death but presumably also harder to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that it was a dowry death, and not in fact.[ 48 ] Furthermore, qualitative research has shown that the families of dowry death cases deter from accusing the husband or his family due to fear of issues with up-bringing of the children of their daughter [ 47 ]. Also dowry deaths or related suicide deaths are less likely to be reported by the natal family, who fear social stigma and negative impact on marriages of their other daughters [ 42 , 49 ]. In this context, it is not easy to interpret the decreased number of cases of dowry deaths in India as actual fewer dowry deaths, for which more evidence is needed.

Very few cases were filed under PWDVA with the middle-SDI states reporting no cases during the period studied. While PWDVA defines domestic violence to include coercive behaviour as well as physical, sexual, emotional and economic abuse [ 11 ], in actuality only extreme forms of physical violence with evidence of injury are seen to evoke a legal response [ 12 ]. Interviews with victims indicate that unless they were able to offer a dowry claim or show evidence of grave physical violence, the police were either reluctant to file an FIR or offer PWDVA as a legal recourse to them [ 12 ]. It is also documented that the police, acting as social brokers, attempt to fit the reported domestic violence cases into ‘normal constructs’ frequently focusing on dowry harassment despite the broadened scope of the law as a recourse for domestic violence beyond dowry harassment [ 5 ]. Thus, data under this crime heading is unlikely to reflect the true picture of domestic violence against women in India.

The poor response of formal system to domestic violence is also reflected in the legal recourse as only 6.8% of the cases filed completed trials in 2018, with the majority of accused being acquitted. This bleak state of waiting, extended trials and low conviction is known to further discourage women from reporting [ 50 ]. The legal process is also influenced by the patriarchy driven attitudes of the police and people in the legal systems [ 44 ], and their unwillingness to act on domestic violence cases which they view as “private matter,”[ 13 , 44 ] such that many cases are not investigated, or dropped due to delay in filing [ 5 ]. In other cases, the investigation is based on the statement of the husband or relatives rather than fingerprints [ 13 ], with the perpetrator of violence not even recorded in over 90% of the cases [ 5 ]. Notably, little empirical research is available on the perceptions of abusive husbands and families on domestic violence that can facilitate intervention programs for abusive husbands [ 34 ].

Limitations and way forward

There are limitations to the data presented and the interpretation. The NCRB data depend on the availability and quality of data recorded by the police at the local level, which is known to have varied quality [ 9 , 10 , 18 ]. The findings have to be interpreted within in this limitation as it is not possible for us to comment on the extent of underreporting of data or the pattern of underreporting by type of crime, year or state. The heterogeneity in the NCRB data at the state level highlighted by the noisy trends or stagnant trend for certain states do not allow for a meaningful interpretation, and calls for a robust assessment of the reporting practices by the police and judiciary at state level to identify the gaps for inadequate documentation and underreporting that can facilitate appropriate corrective measures to improve data quality [ 18 ]. We assumed the age group of affected women to be 15–49 years. Though majority of the cases are likely to be in this age group given the other available information, the unavailability of age of women affected by the type of crime, year and state restricts understanding of the target women for prevention and action. Currently, the data are available in heavily tabulated fixed formats that limit the extent of disaggregated analysis. Because of non-availability of data on number of victims for some years, we assumed the ratio of the number of cases to victims based on the available data for other years. More informative analyses may also be possible if the NCRB reports allow for anonymized individual level data to be available in the public domain, including repeat reports of domestic violence by individual women.

Despite NCRB being a passive surveillance source, efforts can be made to improve the quality of information collected by the police during their routine tasks to improve utilisation of these data for planning action. The World Health Organization injury surveillance guidelines could provide practical advice on collecting systematic data on domestic violence, which can be more comparable over time and location [ 51 ]. Training and sensitisation of the police to address gender violence should also include standardisations in capturing of the data and the quality of data captured.

Disasters, natural or otherwise, disproportionately impact women and girls with some evidence suggesting that violence against women increases in disaster settings, however, there is a lack of rigorously designed and good quality studies that are needed to inform evidence-based policies and safeguard women and girls during and after disasters [ 52 ]. There has also been suggestion of an increase in domestic violence against women during the Covid-19 pandemic, globally [ 53 ] and in India [ 54 , 55 ]. In this context, the urgency to address the gaps highlighted in the NCRB data is even more for India to protect its women against domestic violence.

India needs to address the gaps in the administrative data to effectively respond to the SDG target five to eliminate all forms of violence against women. This longitudual analysis of the reported cases of domestic violence of nearly 20 years across the Indian states has highlighted the under-reporting and almost stagnant data, which hinders formulating of well-informed public health intervention strategies to reduce domestic violence in India.

Acknowledgements

We thank Amit Kumar Chetty and Parijat Singh for help with downloading and formatting of the data.

Abbreviations

Author contributions.

RD and GAK conceptualised this paper. RD drafted the manuscript with contributions from AG and GAK. SG, SK and GAK performed data analysis. All authors contributed to the interpretation and agreed with the final version of the paper. RD and GAK had full access to all the data in the study and had the final responsibility for the decision to submit for publication. All authors had access to the estimates presented in the paper. RD and GAK verified the data underlying this study. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

This work was supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation [INV-004506]. Under the grant conditions of the Foundation, a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Generic License has already been assigned to the Author Accepted Manuscript version that might arise from this submission

Availability of data and materials

Declarations.

The analysis is presented on secondary administrative data available in public domain which does not require consent to participate or ethics approval. All human data are reported in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations.

Not applicable.

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

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Crime and Punishment are two sides of a coin, absolutely inseparable from each other. A crime automatically results in punishment, but, not so at least in India. Crime has always been committed in the world and, everywhere there are laws to deal with the criminal, book him and punish him. However, inspite of stringent punishments, crime ...
PDF Crime in India: An Inter-State Analysis
Crime in India: An Inter-State Analysis 85 Trends of Crime Rate Figure: 3.1 Trend of Crime rate (IPC) in India (1953 to 2011) Analysis of crime-rates (at national level) for the last two decades does not show a smooth trend. Figure 3.1 represents the smooth picture of total crime incidences and crime rate (per 1, 00,000) of the last six decades.
Crime against Women in India: A State Level Analysis
investigation of crime against women is very much needed. Literature Review . Several works have been done relating to various issues on crime in India, taking specific crime as well as crime as a whole and crime deterrence and the need for reforms. In this context mention should be made of the names like Braithwaite (1975), Dreze and Khera (2000),
Essay on Prevention of Crime in India (772 Words)
Essay on Prevention of Crime in India ! Despite legal, social, psychological and penal measures for combating crime, the problem still persists in alarming dimensions. With the change of time, new crimes are coming up and the traditional crimes are vanishing fast. The advancement in knowledge of human behaviour and growth of commerce and ...
Increasing Crime In India, Essay Sample/Example
A report published by the National Crime record showed that over the last 53 years, the crime rate in India has continuously increased over the time. Crimes such as murder and kidnappings have been in the rise. The study showed that murder had increased by 7.39 percent. Thus, for the recent years, crime in India has become very common and ...
Crime Prevention and Control in Indian Society
Crime Prevention and Control in Indian Society. This essay sample was donated by a student to help the academic community. Papers provided by EduBirdie writers usually outdo students' samples. 'CRIME' is a social and economic phenomenon, crime is as ancient as human. Halsbury defines 'crime' as an unlawful act which is an offence ...
PDF "Crime Tendency Among Youth in India"
youth in crime is an area of increasing concern in the context of the fact that crime rates have been steadily rising in urban India. With liberalization and growth of a consumer economy, newer avenues in the illegal sector have emerged, which have direct absorption and income generating avenues for the educated and semi-educated youth.
(PDF) CYBER CRIMES IN INDIA: TRENDS AND PREVENTION
The essay attempts to study the threat of cyber crime in the globalized world with an emphasis on Bangladesh. Finally, the article will offer policy options for ensuring cyber security in the country.
Cybercrime and cybersecurity in India: causes, consequences ...
Cybercrime is rising rapidly in India. Developing economies such as India face unique cybercrime risks. This paper examines cybercrime and cybersecurity in India. The literature on which this paper draws is diverse, encompassing the work of economists, criminologists, institutionalists and international relations theorists. We develop a framework that delineates the relationships of formal and ...
Violence Against Women in India Essay for Students and Children in
Long Essay on Violence against Women 500 Words in English. Violence against women typically means the crimes committed against women of any age, caste, and creed. The crimes can be of any kind; usually, they include murders, abuse, molestation, rape, and infanticide. The number of crimes committed against women in India keeps rising every year.
Essay on Crime against Women in India
1. Essay on the Subject-Matter of Crime against Women in India: Aggression, violence and crime against women who comprise about 48-49 percent of the population is not a matter of joke. I have devoted two separate chapters to gender discrimination and violence against women in view of the importance of the problem.
Domestic violence in Indian women: lessons from nearly 20 years of
A total of 1,548,548 cases were reported under cruelty by husband or his relatives in India from 2001 to 2018, with 554,481 (35.8%) between 2014 and 2018. The reported rate of this crime in India was 18.5 (95% CI 18.3-18.6) in 2001 and 28.3 (95% CI 28.1-28.5) in 2018 per 100,000 women aged 15-49 years, marking a significant increase of 53 ...
PDF Cybercrime and Cybersecurity in India: Causes, Consequences and
Cybercrime is rising rapidly in India. Developing economies such as India face unique cybercrime risks. This paper examines cybercrime and cybersecurity in India. The literature on which this paper draws is diverse, encompassing the work of economists, criminologists, institutionalists and international relations theorists.