Question : Rape Incidents

(a) the details of the number of rape cases including those that involved minors registered and persons sentenced to death in such cases during the last three years and the current year across the country including Tamil Nadu, State-wise;

(b) whether it has increased over the last few years and if so, the reasons therefor;

(c) whether the Government is planning for a time limit for completion of such kind of trials within the country;

(d) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor;

(e) the time by which it is likely to be implemented;

(f) whether the Government proposes to launch any public or private social awareness drive or any other effective scheme to check the increasing incidents of rape in the country; and

(g) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS
(SHRI G. KISHAN REDDY)

(a) National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) compiles and publishes information on crimes in its publication “Crime in India”. The published reports
are available till the year 2018. The State/UT-wise (including Tamil Nadu)
details of cases registered, cases charge-sheeted, cases convicted, persons arrested, persons charge-sheeted and persons convicted under Crime head Rape (Section 376 IPC) during the years 2016-2018 are available at Annexure-I.




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Rape cases that involved minors where conviction has resulted in death sentence is not maintained by the NCRB separately.
(b) The published data shows no such trend. However, the Ministry of Home Affairs has taken several steps to spread awareness amongst the citizens, sensitization of police officers at various levels, issuance of advisories for compulsory registration of FIRs and penal provisions for non-registration of FIRs etc. This has improved reporting of such cases.
(c)to (g): The Criminal Law (Amendment), Act 2013 was enacted for effective deterrence against sexual offences. Further, the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2018 was enacted to prescribe even more stringent penal provisions including death penalty for rape of a girl below the age of 12 years. The Act also inter-alia mandates completion of investigation and trials within 2 months each.
‘Police’ and ‘Public Order’ are State subjects under the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India. The responsibilities to maintain law and order, protection of life and property of the citizens including women rests with the respective State Governments. The State Governments are competent to deal with such offences under the extant provisions of laws.
However, Government has taken a number of initiatives for safety of women across the country, which are given below:
i. In pursuance to the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2018, Government of India has finalized a scheme in August 2019 for setting up of a total




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of 1023 Fast Track Special Courts (FTSCs) inclusive of 389 POCSO Courts across the country for expeditious trial and disposal of pending cases pertaining to Rape and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, in a time bound manner under Centrally Sponsored Scheme.
ii. Emergency Response Support System provides a pan-India, single internationally recognized number (112) based system for all emergencies, with computer aided dispatch of field resources to the location of distress.
iii. The Ministry of Home (MHA) has launched a cyber-crime reporting portal on 20th September, 2018 for citizens to report obscene content.
iv. Using technology to aid smart policing and safety management, Safe City Projects have been sanctioned in first Phase in 8 cities (Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow & Mumbai). The projects have been prepared by State Governments,
taking into account the need for identification of hot spots for crimes against women for development of critical assets in various areas including infrastructure, technology adoption and capacity building in community through awareness programmers.
v. MHA has launched the “National Database on Sexual Offenders” (NDSO) on 20th September, 2018 to facilitate investigation and tracking of sexual offenders across the country.




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vi. MHA has launched an online analytic tool “Investigation Tracking System for Sexual Offences” to monitor and track time-bound investigation in sexual assault cases in accordance with Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2018.
vii. In order to improve investigation, MHA has taken steps to strengthen DNA analysis units in Central and State Forensic Science Laboratories. This includes setting up of State-of-the-Art DNA Analysis Unit in Central Forensic Science Laboratory, Chandigarh, MHA has also sanctioned setting-up and upgrading of DNA Analysis units in State Forensic Science Laboratories in 13 States/UTs.
viii. MHA has notified guidelines for collection of forensic evidence in sexual assault cases and the standard composition in a sexual assault evidence collection kits to facilitate adequate capacity in manpower, training and skill building programs for Investigation Officers, Prosecution Officers and Medical Officers.
ix. In addition to the above-mentioned measures, MHA has been issuing advisories from time to time to States/UTs to deal with crimes against women, which are available at www.mha.gov.in.
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