Women in 18-30 age group most vulnerable to rape, says govt report | India News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: Highlighting data from the crime records for 2021 to emphasise that majority of rape survivors are in the 18-30 age group, the recently released ‘Women and Men in India 2022’ report brings into focus the probability that women in this age bracket may be more vulnerable as many of them are part of the ‘labour force’ requiring travel between workplace and home, put in late working hours and work on sites. The report, therefore, calls for greater sensitisation and effective measures to secure women’s fundamental right to “work and earn”, reports Ambika Pandit.
Citing these probable reasons for vulnerability of women in the 18-30 age group, the report stresses that “such conditions should not be a burden or barrier to women in their fundamental right to work and earn. Various measures have already been taken by the government to prevent sexual harassment at work place but more needs to be done in the area of gender sensitisation.”
It further states that the lower percentage of survivors in the less than 16 years age group could also be due to non-reporting out of fear of social stigma. As per NCRB 2021, of the 31,878 rape victims 20,065 (63%) were between 18-30 years; 1,030 (12-16 years), 183 (6-12 years) and 53 below six years.
The report brought out by the ministry of statistics and programme implementation in a section on ‘information related to impediments in empowerment’ also draws attention to the crime data from 2016 to 2021 that shows that three major crimes – cruelty by husband and relatives, assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty and kidnapping and abduction – constituted more than 70% of the total crime committed against women. The rate of cruelty by husband and relatives faced by women in their own house accounted for one-third of all crimes.
“The data show that compromising the safety of women starts from home itself,” it is emphasised in the report which also underlines the fact the analysis is of reported cases and these number could be higher if unregistered cases are also taken into account.
The report cites the National Family Health Survey data which show that one-third of women in the country are facing violence by their husband. “Percentage of ever married women age 18-49 years who have ever experienced emotional, physical or sexual violence committed by their husband, however, has slightly decreased from 33.3% in 2015-16 to 31.9% in 2019-21 but it is still quite high,” it said.