Webindia: Ahmedabad: Tuesday, September 8, 2015.
Gujarat has witnessed five-fold rise in rape cases against Dalit women between 2001 and 2014.
The number does not include uncounted incidents in rural and tribal areas that go unreported.
According to a reply provided by the office of the States Director-General of Police (DGP) to an application under Right to Information Act (RTI), as many as 74 Dalit women were allegedly raped in 2014 and offences registered under the Indian Penal Code as well as Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
The RTI application was filed by Kaushik Parmar, a human rights activist based in North Gujarats Mehsana district. According to information provided by Deputy Superintendent of Police at the DGP Office GM Malek, the number of rapes committed on Dalit women was only 14 in 2001, which jumped five times to 74 in 2014.
According to the reply from the DGP office, in all 501 rape cases were registered in Gujarat between January 2001 and December 2014. Incidentally, the State Government launched a womens helpline 181 called Abhayam last year for Ahmedabad and Surat cities and Gandhinagar district.
Chief Minister Anandiben Patel announced last month on International Womens Day that the helpline has now been extended to cover the entire State. She said 37 Abhayam rescue vans would be available to help women in distress and that it would be linked with the 108 ambulance services and 1098 child helpline.
Patel said 17,000 women had called the helpline 181 during last one year from Ahmedabad and Surat cities and Gandhinagar district, claiming that all of them got timely assistance from trained counselors.
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