Crimes against women rose by 23 per cent in Odisha last year, with the state recording the highest number of assault and cyber crime cases against them, the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) said.
The state also saw a huge spike in cases of rape, abduction or cruelty by husband and his relatives in 2021, according the recently-published ‘Crime in India 2021’ report of the NCRB.
The crime rate per 1 lakh of the women population in the state rose to 137.8 in comparison to 112.9 in 2020, the third highest in the country after Assam and Delhi, it stated.
As many as 31,352 cases of crime against women were registered in the state in 2021 under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), special and local laws. It was 25,489 in 2020 and 23,183 in 2020, the NCRB report said.
There were 14,891 victims of assault with intent to outrage modesty, the highest in the country with a staggering crime rate of 65.3 and a rise of 17.8 per cent as compared to 2020.
Twelve women were victims of murder with rape or gang rape. Cases under Section 376 (rape) of the IPC rose by 20.23 per cent to 1,456. The state registered 151 attempt-to-rape incidents and 838 cases of insult to modesty of women.
A total of 2,496 cases were lodged under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act where the victims were girls, an increase of 13.35 per cent.
The state recorded the highest number of 565 cases of cyber crimes against women by publishing or transmitting of sexually explicit materials or blackmailing, defamation, morphing and fake profile.
Cases of cruelty by husband or his relatives shot up 33.62 per cent to 4,889 in the second successive year of rising domestic violence cases amid a lockdown over the second coronavirus wave.
Kidnapping and abduction of women increased by 37.1 per cent as it jumped to 5,175 cases. The rate of crime is the third highest after Assam and Delhi. Ninety-six women were victims of human trafficking.
Odisha registered 293 dowry deaths last year, while 465 cases were lodged under the Dowry Prohibition Act. Twenty-seven cases were lodged under abetment to suicide, while there were three victims of acid attack.
The state also fared poorly in the court disposal of cases related to crimes against women.
The number of the women-related cases pending trial was 98.6 per cent, the highest in the country. The conviction rate was only 8.3 per cent, far below the national average of 26.6.