Safety of women has been a growing concern in Kozhikode city. Precautionary measures seem not to have had a desired effect if one analyses the report of the city police.
Figures provided by the Police Department show that cases of atrocities against women have been on the rise in the past five years. This, when the overall crime rate in the city has been showing a downward trend.
As many as 654 cases of atrocities against women were registered in 2013. The figures were 525 (2012); 556 (2011); 425 (2010) and 409 (2009). Cases pertaining to all other offences for the last three years are: 3,447 cases in (2009); 3,455 in 2010; and 3,106 in 2013. And, most of these were charged for unlawful assembly, rioting, and simple cases of hurt.
The majority of cases against women pertained to cruelty by husband or relatives of husband, outraging modesty of women, causing injuries and other offences in the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Protection of Women Domestic Violence Act.
Over 135 cases were registered in connection with the offence under Section 498 (husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty) of the IPC. Of the 32 cases of rape reported in the city, twenty-four are still under investigation and eight, pending trial.
Nine cases of kidnapping have been reported from the city the previous calendar year.
Cases under categories of outraging modesty of women have also increased in the city in the last five years.
However offences under Section 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the IPC have decreased. Eve-teasing cases and those related to annoying women through obscene acts and songs have also come down. A case was charged for indecent representation of women and children. Two murder cases and a case of abetment of suicide were registered in the city last year.
