Rising Tide: West Bengal's Ongoing Struggle Against Crimes on Women

In 2023, West Bengal reported 34,691 cases of crimes against women, with a total caseload of 44,731, including pending cases from 2022. Of these, 1,110 were rape cases, including 27 of minors. The NCRB highlighted that many offenders were known to victims, with major crimes being domestic cruelty, sexual assault, kidnapping, and POCSO offences.

In 2023, West Bengal saw a worrying number of crimes against women reach 34,691, according to the latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report. This figure, coupled with 10,024 pending cases from 2022, brought the total case count under investigation to 44,731.

Despite these grim statistics, police efforts led to the disposal of 34,344 cases with an impressive charge-sheet filing rate of 93.8 percent, even as the pendency rate persisted at 23.2 percent. Alarmingly, the state recorded 1,110 rape cases, including 27 involving minors. The report crucially noted that the offenders were often known to victims.

The NCRB's analysis revealed that dominant categories of crime included 'domestic cruelty', 'kidnapping and abduction', 'sexual assault', 'rape', and 'POCSO offences'. However, it also cautioned that its data represents only reported cases and adhere to the 'principal offence' rule, whereby only the gravest offence is counted.

(With inputs from agencies.)