Crimes against women up in 6 Northeastern states; Assam tops list

Guwahati: Crimes against women in six of the eight Northeastern states increased significantly in the last year compared to the year before as Assam led the list, although Manipur and Mizoram registered a downward trend.

At the all-India level, Assam remains in the seventh place, like in the previous year. The list is headed by Andhra Pradesh, followed by Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, the National Crime Records Bureau said in its Crime in India, 2013, report.  

West Bengal, which reported the highest rate of crime against women in 2012, has been relegated to third place in 2013, behind Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

Reported instances of crimes against women in Assam jumped to 17,449 in 2013 as against 13,544 the previous year.

In Tripura, between 2013 and the previous year, it had risen to 1,628 from 1,559 while Meghalaya saw a jump to 343 from 255. In Arunachal Pradesh, it was up from 201 to  288, in Sikkim to 93 from 68 and in Nagaland to 67 from 51.

Manipur and Mizoram, however, recorded a slide in crimes against women with the incident rate in the former falling to 285 from 304 while the latter saw it drop from 199 to 177.

Assam heads the list for all recorded crimes against women, including rape, kidnapping and abduction, dowry deaths and cruelty by husband and his relatives.

The state reported 1,937 incidents of rape in 2013 as against 1,716 the previous year. It was followed by Tripura, which saw 233 such cases as against 229 in 2012.

In Meghalaya, the number of rape cases increased to 183 from 164, in Arunachal Pradesh to 75 from 46, in Manipur to 72 from 63, in Sikkim to 43 from 34 and in Nagaland to 31 from 21.

Mizoram was the only state in the region which witnessed a drop in rape case, with such incidents coming down to 89 from 103 the year before.

In crimes related to kidnapping and abduction, Assam's rate increased significantly to 4,222 from 3,360 while in Tripura it went from 114 to 124.

Among other states to register an increase were Arunachal Pradesh (from 58 to 86), Meghalaya (from 24 to 33), Sikkim (from 10 to 16) and Nagaland (from 10 to 11).

Manipur recorded a downward trend in kidnapping and abduction with a drop to 125 from 133 the previous year while in Mizoram it decreased from three to two.

As to dowry deaths, it was Assam again which led the list with 170 deaths reported over 140 the previous year.

Tripura saw a decline here -- to 29 from 37 -- while in Meghalaya it increased to two from one. Nagaland, which reported no dowry deaths in the earlier years, saw one incident.

Neither Arunachal Pradesh nor Sikkim reported any dowry deaths in 2013 although, in the previous year, both states had a case each.

In Manipur and Mizoram, no dowry deaths were reported in either year.

Assam also recorded the highest incidence of 8,636 cases of cruelty by husband and his relatives towards women, which was up from 6,407 the previous year.

In Tripura, incidents of cruelty came down from 858 to 827 last year, in Manipur it was down from 43 to 29 and in Mizoram from eight to five.

Incidents of cruelty increased from 26 to 29 in Arunachal Pradesh and went from 16 to 23 in Meghalaya. In Sikkim, the jump was from four to five while, in Nagaland, four cases were reported as against none the previous year.