Post 2014, rape cases down by 13 per cent as awareness spikes, laws have more bite

New Delhi: With stricter laws and growing intent and initiative from governments and law enforcement, rape cases in India have taken a plunge of around 13 per cent since 2014 when the Narendra Modi-led NDA came to power in the Centre.

Data on rape cases from 2014 to 2021

According to the National Crime Record Bureau’s data on the no. of rape cases reported throughout the last eight years, the heinous crime against women has come down to 31,677 cases in 2021 from 36,735 cases in 2014.

Except for 2016, when the cases rose to 38,947, a spike of around six per cent, there has been a consistent fall in no. of rape cases.

The lowest the cases ebbed to was in 2020 when the tally fell to 28, 046, over 23% less than in 2014.

However, the NCRB data shows that in the preceding two years before the change in power at the Centre, during the UPA’s tenure, the rape cases jumped by 35 per cent. In 2012, 24, 923 cases were reported which in 2013 rose to 33, 707.

The spike in these two years alone reflects so badly on stats that if seen for the last ten years since 2012 — the year when the infamous Nirbhaya rape case, which shook the entire nation, took place — the data, despite the consistent fall in rape cases since 2014, shows an uptick of 21 per cent.

A 22-year-old girl was brutally gang-raped and tortured inside a moving bus and then thrown away on a roadside in Delhi on the night of 16 December 2012. The crime was committed in such a bestial fashion that the details of the case left the country in shock and anger. People took to the streets in protest and demanded stricter laws and mechanisms to deal with rapes.

Nirbhaya and change in laws

Rape cases have fallen over the last decade, following the Nirbhaya case, owing to a growing concern among people and raised alert in law enforcement.

Chairperson of the National Commission for Women Rekha Sharma said, “the fall in cases is due to the awareness in people and rise in alertness in government after the barbaric Nirbhaya case,” which she said, “led to a mass resolve to tackle the menace to make women feel safer.”

Sharma also said that the Nirbhaya case laid bare the need to have stricter laws that act as a deterrent and make it harder for offenders to get away with rape and sexual harassment.

In February 2013, following mass outrage, the Criminal Law Act was amended to change the laws pertaining to rape and sexual harassment.

The law detailed consent and clarified that any form of sexual intercourse with a woman who, either was willing or not in a position to make the choice, would be deemed rape.

The amendment included unwelcome physical contact, demanding sexual favours, showing pornography to women without consent and making sexual remarks in sexual harassment.

The law also recognised stalking, both physical and online, as an offence. Throwing or trying to throw acid on someone to disfigure their face was also deemed a crime in the amendment.

Later in 2018, the Union government brought a law that called for a minimum sentence of 20 years or life sentence or death penalty in rape cases where the victim was a girl under 12.

“These changes in law”, the NCW chairperson said are one of the main reasons behind the decline in rape cases.

Laws, if the enforcement is not up to the mark, Sharma said, don’t yield the results it is made to.

“Police and other law enforcement agencies over the last seven have been prompter and more sensitive in dealing with rape cases and that has made the difference on the ground”, she said.

Although there has been a decline in rape cases, the problem is far from over. It is just that the total no. is coming down slowly, but it still is a matter of concern with rapes making headlines every other day.

In order to truly mitigate the problem “there is a long way to go”, Sharma said.

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