Visakhapatnam: Though Vizag has officially emerged as rape capital of Andhra Pradesh with 87 rape cases in 2015 as per the NCRB-2015 report, city police have claimed that failed relationships leading to separation of live-in-partners and non-fulfillment of promise of marriages (breach of trust) despite having physical relations are major reasons behind the rising rape cases.
However, the women’s organisations say that Vizag is slowly turning into unsafe city for girls and women as crime against women has been increasing.
The police said that the rape cases have been increasing in Vizag city every year. In 2012, the number of rapes stood at 54 of which 21 were against minor girls. Similarly in 2013, the number was 67 and of which 39 concerned minor girls, in 2014 it was 84 of which 33 victims were minors only.
In 2015, it was 87 of which 25 were against minor girls. Vizag city has witnessed 774 cases of crime against women in 2015. Police officials claimed the cases increased because of the changed registration process.
A senior police officer, on condition of anonymity, said that nearly 80 per cent of the total rape cases of adult woman in Vizag city has come under having sex with woman on false promise of marriage only.
In sexual offences against minor girls in the city, 99 per cent of the crimes committed by known persons only, mostly neighbours and family friends of the victims, he added.
Leaders of various women’s organisations said that there is no stringent punishment for rapists due to shoddy probes and poor handling of forensic evidence and a few others. Vizag is said to be a safe place for women and girls, but the latest incidents in the city has proved that it has slipped into a capital for crime against women in the state, they added.
