Odisha no safer for women, state records close to 3k rape cases every year

By Kishore Mohapatra

Bhubaneswar, March 30: The state registered 11,763 rape cases during last four years – from 2018 to 2021. It implies that the state on an average  recorded 2,928 cases every year.

Bhubaneswar, March 30: Odisha seems to be a no safer state for women, if the facts shared by state home minister Divya Shankar Mishra are any indications. The state registered 11,763 rape cases during last four years – from 2018 to 2021. It implies that the state on an average recorded 2,928 cases every year.

The minister’s reply which came in response to a query by Congress member Santosh Singh Saluja’s question in the State Assembly on Monday indicated a spurt in rape cases in the four years.

Altogether 2,502 rape cases were registered in the state in the year 2018, which increased to 2,950 in 2019, 2,984 in 2020 and 3,327 cases in 2021.

Similarly, the women murder cases, including dowry homicide cases, have remained in between 600 and 700 every year in the past four years. As per the statement, 610 women murder cases, including 293 dowry homicide cases, were reported in 2021 whereas 676 women murder cases, including 320 dowry homicide cases, were registered with Odisha police in 2020.

The police reported 629 women murder cases in 2019 and 628 such cases in 2018, said the minister.

The number of non-dowry torture cases has increased by more than three times during past four years.

While 1,616 non-dowry torture cases were registered in 2018, the number had gone up to 2,532 in 2019, 3,153 in 2020 and 4,889 in 2021.