Srinagar: Amidst the breathtakingly beautiful landscape of Jammu and Kashmir lies a darker reality of a surge in crime cases against vulnerable members of the society.
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has painted a sobering picture of J&K reporting an increase in cases registered for crimes against senior citizens, women, and children over the last few years.
According to the MHA, the number of cases registered under crime against women had increased from 3069 in 2019 to 3937 in 2021 while the number of cases registered under crime against senior citizens had increased from one in 2019 to 40 cases registered in 2021.
The MHA reported that the number of cases registered under crime against children has increased from 470 in 2019 to 845 cases in 2021.
With regard to the surge in cases, the MHA has stated that the responsibilities to maintain law and order and protection of life and property of the citizens including investigation and prosecution of crime against women rest with the respective governments.
“The state governments are competent to deal with such offences under the extant provisions of laws,” the MHA said.
However, the MHA stated that the Centre had taken several initiatives for the safety of women across the country noting that the Emergency Response Support System provides a pan-India, single internationally recognised number (112) based system for all emergencies with computer-aided dispatch of field resources to the location of distress.
“The MHA launched a cyber-crime reporting portal on September 20 of 2018 for citizens to report obscene content and also launched the National Database on Sexual Offenders (NDSO) to facilitate investigation and tracking of sexual offenders across the country by the law enforcement agencies,” the official document reads.
It reads that an online analytic tool ‘Investigation Tracking System for Sexual Offences’ was launched by MHA on February 19 of 2019 to facilitate them to monitor and track time-bound investigation in sexual assault cases in accordance with the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act 2018.
“In order to improve investigation, the MHA has taken steps to strengthen DNA analysis units in central and state forensic science laboratories,” the official document reads.
As per the official figures, the cases registered under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, during 2019-2021 had increased from 109 to 294 from 2019 to 2021.
The MHA figures also reveal that the number of juveniles apprehended under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substance (NDPS) increased from six to nine from 2019 to 2021.
“The number of cases registered under IPC and SLL crimes (juveniles in conflict with the law) has increased from 299 to 323 during 2019-21,” the official document reads.
The MHA also revealed that the number of cases booked for possession of drugs for personal use and trafficking under the NDPS Act also increased from 2019 to 2021.
According to the MHA, the number of cases booked for possession of drugs for personal use increased from 255 in 2019 to 357 in 2021 while the number of cases booked for possession of drugs for trafficking has increased from 918 to 1324 during 2019-2021.