SHUBHANGI SHIFA
Ranchi, Sept 7: Jharkhand has the highest rate of rape per one lakh population at 7.6 as compared it its neighbouring states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and West Bengal, as per the recent crime report released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
Notably, Bihar has a rate of 1.3, UP has 2.6, Chhattisgarh has 7.4, Odisha has 6.4 while West Bengal has a rate of 2.6. Meanwhile, the all-India average was 4.8.
There have been a total of 1425 incidents of rape in Jharkhand in the year 2021, with the number of victims being the same. On the other hand, UP is leading with 2845 incidents and is followed by Odisha at 1456 incidents. West Bengal reported 1123 cases, Chhattisgarh had 1093 rape cases, while Bihar had 786 incidents reported of rape.
Jharkhand also took lead in the rape rate of girls below the age of 18 years with 1.6 at 295 incidents. It is followed by UP which has a rape rate among girls below 18 years of age at 0.2 with 256 incidents.
Other states including Bihar, West Bengal, Odisha and Chhattisgarh have zero reported incidents of rape of girls below that age of 18 along with the rape rate of these girls being 0.0 as well. However, this may not be the case, keeping in mind the social stigma attached to the crime.
Meanwhile, in terms of numbers of rape incidents where the victim was above the age of 18, Jharkhand has a 6.0 rate with 1130 incidents. Here, UP leads with 2589 incidents and has a rate of 2.3, while, Odisha has a rate of 6.4 with 1456 incidents.
These are followed by West Bengal with 1123 incidents, Chhattisgarh with 1093 incidents and Bihar with 786 incidents. Here, West Bengal has a rate of 2.3, Chhattisgarh has a rate of 7.4 while Bihar is at a 1.3 rate.
Of the total rape incidents, 1298 victims knew their offender, while 129 were attacked by unknown persons in Jharkhand. With 2668 known offenders and 177 unidentified offenders, UP is in the lead here, closely followed by Odisha with 1455 known offenders and 1 unidentified offender.
At the same time, Chhattisgarh has 1088 offenders who were known to their victims, while only 5 were unknown. Similarly, West Bengal had 911 offenders whose victims knew them, and Bihar had 727 such offenders. On the other hand, in West Bengal 212 victims reported rape from unknown assailants as 129 did the same in Bihar.
