While most women, like children, are told to beware of strangers as they pose dangers of kidnapping, violence and sexual assault, experts across the world have known for a while now that stranger danger is a myth. Instead, as the World Health Organisation (WHO) shows, most women (one in three, globally) are actually at a higher risk of facing violence in its many forms from people they know. New data released by the Mumbai Police concurs with this fact, while also showing how trends in crimes against women have changed in recent years.
Statistics revealed by the top brass of Mumbai Police proves that women continue to be at the highest risk of being sexually assaulted and/or exploited not by strangers, but by friends (including those on social media) and romantic partners.
As per the figures released by the police, out of the 888 offences of rape registered in 2021, 570 were allegedly committed by friends, social media friends, or romantic partners who made false promises of marriage. A more disturbing finding is that out of the victims in these 570 rape cases, 271 were minor. In fact, out of the total 888 rape cases in 2021, victims in 364 were minors—which indicates that more than half of the total cases involved minors.
As for the accused in these cases, the police noted three major categories:
1. Friends, social media friends and romantic partners
2. Family employees like servants, gardeners or drivers
3. Family friends or friends of family members
The data also revealed a small rise in cases registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, as the registered cases went up from 932 in 2020 to 1,051 in 2021. Cybercrimes also witnessed an increase from 2,435 crimes in 2020 to 2,883 in 2021. Thankfully, the detection rate of these crimes also improved from nine per cent in 2020 to 16 per cent in 2021
The Mumbai Police also revealed that this year, they have also started compiling records of known sex offenders and are taking preventive action too. “While earlier, we used to maintain records of history sheeters like burglars, robbers, dacoits and motor vehicle theft accused, we have now started doing the same for sexual offenders who have targeted women and children. In many instances, such offenders have also been extended by zonal Deputy Commissioners of Police,” Joint Commissioner of Police (Law and Order), Vishwas Nangre Patil, said. This initiative is apart from the Nirbhaya squads formed this year.