Cases of outraging modesty of women, cruelty by husbands on rise in Kerala: NCRB

Thiruvananthapuram: Crimes against women in Kerala spiked between 2020 and 2022 with a majority of them being cases of outraging modesty and cruelty by husbands or his relatives, according to the latest National Crime Records Bureau data.

Crimes against women in Kerala stood at 15,213 in 2022 as compared to 10,139 in 2020.

Of the 15,213 cases, 4,998 were of cruelty by husband or his relatives under section 498A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and 4,940 were of outraging modesty of women under section 354 of IPC, it said.

There were 2,957 cases of sexual assault of minor girls under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act in 2022, according to the data.

Coupled with 5,269 cases of the previous years, the total instances of crimes against women being probed by the police in 2022 were 20,528 and of these charge sheets were filed in 15,782 and in 6,792 the investigation was pending, the report said.

In courts, 92,929 cases were listed for trial in 2022 and these included 77,147 cases of the previous years, it said.

Of the over 90,000 cases which went for adjudication, 8,397 were disposed of and in 7,768 the trial was completed, the report said.

That left 84,532 cases of crimes against women pending trial in courts indicating a pendency percentage of 91 per cent and a conviction rate of 10.3, according to the data.

Instances of kidnappings also witnessed a rise in the southern state with the number of cases increasing from 307 in 2020 to 403 in 2022.

Of those kidnapped or abducted, 292 were children and of them 224 were girls.

Of the 224 girls abducted in 2022, 209 were between the age group of 12 and 18 years, according to the data.

However, among the adults abducted, 117 were men.

The report also said that 481 people were kidnapped in the state till December 31, 2022 and of them 395 were traced by the end of 2022, indicating a recovery percentage of 82.1 per cent.