In majority of rape cases reported in Delhi this year, the accused were known to the victims or their friends, followed by neighbours and relatives such as brother-in-law, uncle, husband or ex-husband and even father. Only 4.23 per cent of the alleged rapists were strangers.
In an affidavit filed in the Delhi High Court on Tuesday in compliance with its directions for “crime mapping” in sexual offences against women, the Delhi Police said the picture emerging from the analysis of cases registered till October 15 year had depicted that the majority of the accused were persons related or known to the victims in cases of rape, molestation and eve-teasing.
A Division Bench comprising Justice B.D. Ahmed and Justice Siddharth Mridul had last month asked the Delhi Police to provide details of sexual offence cases, while observing that most of these incidents had occurred within the home and in most of the cases the accused were near relatives and acquaintances.
The affidavit, submitted by Deputy Commissioner of Police (Headquarters) G.S. Aswana, said out of the total of 1,704 cases registered till October 15 this year, the accused were strangers only in 72 cases, comprising 4.23 per cent of the suspects. Fathers were involved in 43 cases and step-fathers in 23 cases.
The victims’ friends allegedly committed the crime in as many as 642 cases, neighbours in 352, family friends in 83, husband or ex-husband in 27 and uncle or maternal uncle in 32 cases. The accused turned out to be cousin in four cases.
There were 1,711 victims in the 1,704 reported cases, according to the 23-page affidavit. Four victims were less than two years old. Among the victims, 1,198 were unmarried and the remaining 513 were married.
Of the 3,485 cases of molestation reported during the period, the accused were strangers in 727. Fathers were involved in 33 cases and step-fathers in six. In one case it turned to be a grandfather and brother in nine cases.
Providing details of the eve-teasing cases, the affidavit said the accused were strangers in 567 of the 1,024 reported cases. Over 550 of these cases have been worked out with the arrest of 667 accused persons.
In these cases, 525 incidents took place within the four walls of house or jhuggi, 345 on the roadside, 56 in the market areas, 12 in hospitals and clinics, 11 in schools and colleges while nine in parks.
The Court was hearing a writ petition moved by social activist Nandita Dhar, seeking directions for controlling crimes against women in the Capital. The Bench, which will hold further hearing in the case today, had earlier asked the police to highlight the important aspect of the accused being known to the victims, so that the public was made aware of it.
