Haryana has continued to witness a spurt in crime against women, requiring the state government to tighten the noose around criminals. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Opposition remain at loggerheads over the safety of women as well as the law and order situation in the state—and have continued to do ahead of the monsoon session of the state Assembly.
According to data provided by the Haryana State Women Commission (HSWC), women are neither safe at home nor outside. Incidents of domestic violence, dowry assault, rape or harassment at the workplace, have increased over the last year. Between January 2022 and April 2023, a total of 2,819 cases of any kind of crime against women were been reported in the state and over 170 cases were reported every month. These include both new cases and pending cases, but the resolution ratio has remained unchanged.
In the year 2022, a total of 2,367 cases were reported last year, of which 1,489 cases were resolved. It has been revealed in the information received that domestic violence against women, especially physical and mental abuse and dowry harassment cases have become very common. Of all the cases reported over a period of 16 months from January 2022 to April 2023, the maximum number of cases are of physical and mental harassment of women as a total of 939, or around one-third of the total cases reported. Cases of domestic violence come second in the maximum number of crimes against women.
In a period of 16 months, 317 cases were been reported to the commission. This amounts to a case being reported every three days. A total of 311 cases and 123 cases of dowry and rape surfaced respectively while 18 women lost their lives due to dowry-related violence.
Also, a total of 172 cases of sexual exploitation have been reported. According to the commission, 60 such complaints were recorded as harassment at work. Apart from this, 44 cases of kidnapping, 43 cases of murder or attempt to murder women have come on record. It is pertinent to mention that even the incidents of involvement of police personnel in crime against women continue to surface, which is a worrying statistic. Among these many as140 complaints against the police personnel including the harassment of women, molestation, and delay in investigation also surfaced. On the other hand, the newly appointed DGP Shatrujeet Kapoor has assured recently that action will be taken against those police personnel having a casual approach towards their duty and being involved in corruption.