Crime statistics for this year till August, released by the Kerala Police on Monday, show that 1,181 rape cases were registered in the State. As many as 394 of the victims were minors. A total of 9,347 crimes against women and 1,155 crimes against children were registered during the period. Last year, 455 minors and 1,019 women were raped as per the statistics.
District-wise breakup of the statistics for the first eight months shows that the highest number of rapes were reported from Thiruvananthapuram district — 112 cases. No district-wise breakup figures for rape of minors were provided in the statistics.
Kollam district had 100 rape cases and Palakkad, 69. The least number of cases were reported from Pathanamthitta — 31. Thiriuvananthapuram had the highest number of cases last year at 138. Among the five police districts in the State (excluding areas covered by the rural police), the Kollam city registered the largest number of cases at 37, followed by Thiruvananthapuram city with 33 cases, and Kozhikode city with 24 cases.
All over the State, 2,963 molestation cases were registered during the period. In this category too, Thiruvananthapuram district had the highest number of cases, at 639. Kollam followed with 315 cases. Eighteen molestation cases were registered by the Railway police all over the State.
Thiruvananthapuram had 767 cases, the highest, under the category last year.
Sixteen dowry deaths were reported in the State till August this year and five of these were in Thiruvananthapuram district. No dowry deaths were reported from Alappuzha, Idukki, Kottayam, Malappuram, Kozhikode, and Kannur districts. There were eight dowry deaths last year in Thiruvananthapuram, the highest in the State.
The statistics show that 23 children were murdered during the first eight months of this year in the State. During the period, 123 women and 73 minors were abducted in the State. The police had also registered two cases under the The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006. Last year, six such cases were registered in the State.
The police registered 3,192 cases of cruelty to women by her husband or his relatives in the State during the first eight months this year. Malappuram district had 407 cases registered during the period, the highest. Wayanad reported the least number of cases — 52. Last year too, Malappuram registered the largest number, at 668 cases, and Wayanad again had the least, at 95. Last year, a total of 13,002 crimes against women and 1,324 crimes against children were registered in the State. With 1,646 cases, Thiruvananthapuram has registered the highest. For the first eight months of this year, Thiruvananthapuram has had 1,242 cases of crimes against women, more than all the other districts.
