Bhubaneswar: Odisha has in the first nine months of 2019 registered 1,865 rape cases, including 956 sexual assaults on minors. During the same period, the state witnessed 7,706 molestation incidents and 337 dowry deaths.
The numbers are part of stats shared in the state legislative Assembly on Monday by minister of state for home, Captain Dibyashankar Mishra, in written reply to a question by BJP MLA Shankar Oram.
Six of the victims in 1,865 rape cases were killed. “Steps have been taken to provide relief to the survivors of rape,” the minister said.
The data-sheet presented by Mishra indicated that cases of minor girls being raped have been increasing in the state. While 1,204 of these cases were reported in 2016, they increased to 1,283 in 2017 and 1,430 in 2018. In 2019, the figure is 956 as on September 30. The minister maintained that Odisha does not top the list of molestation cases in the country, as reported by National Crime Records Bureau.
