Rape cases rising; rate of issuance of charge-sheet low

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, February 27: The cases of rape of women and children in the state have been rising at an alarming rate as in most of the cases the victims are denied justice, mainly due to failure on the part of the police to issue charge-sheets against the accused.

According to official data available with The Sentinel, from 2011 to 2013, the number of child rape cases in 2011 was 40. The number of such cases rose to 156 in 2012 and 230 in 2013. Though the police could arrest the accused in most of the cases, charge-sheets could not be issued against most of them. This failure on the part of the police to issue charge-sheets denied the victim children justice, and allowed the accused go scot-free.      

Of the 40 child rape cases registered in 2011, the police could issue charge-sheets only in 28 cases. Likewise, of the 156 child rape cases registered in 2012 the police could issue charge-sheets only in 98 cases. In 2013, the police could issue charge-sheets only in 134 of the 230 cases registered.

The situation is even more serious in the rape cases of women. Charge-sheets could be issued only in 1,012 of the 1,700 women rape cases registered in 2011. In 2012, charge-sheets could be issued only in 1,110 of the 1,716 rape cases registered and in 2013 charge-sheets could be issued only in 1,366 of the 1,937 cases registered.    

Due to failure on the part of the police to issue charge-sheets, in most of the rape cases the victims are denied justice and the rate of such crimes keeps on going up. The increasing number of rape cases and the strength of the state police forces may not be in sync.  This may be one of the reasons behind the police not being able to cope up with the rising number of rape cases.