IN A disconcerting trend, almost 63 per cent of the victims in rape cases registered across the city last year have been found to be minors. Of the total 712 rapes cases registered within city limits, a whopping 448 involved women who were below 18 years of age, as per a white paper released by Praja Foundation on Monday.

Many victims have been found to be as young as three years of age.

As per the report titled State of policing and law and order in Mumbai, rape cases rose by 289 per cent from 187 in 2011 – 2012 to 728 in 2015-16. Molestation cases too rose by 287 per cent during the same period.

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Nitai Mehta, Praja’s founding trustee, said, “Several factors, such as more women coming ahead to register complaints, an increased sensitivity among policemen in the past few years, in addition to a general spike in such cases, are behind the rise in the figures.”

Mehta added that nearly 33 per cent of the 25,000 people surveyed across wards said they feel insecure when it comes to safety of women and children in the city.

Milind Mhaske, project director, Praja Foundation, said another problematic finding was that despite the continuous rise in crimes against women over the past few years, the average time taken by the police from the time they registered an FIR to when they filed the chargesheet was 9.2 months. “Normally, it should take 90 days for the police to file a chargesheet once a person is arrested. It is shocking that in serious crimes such as rape, chargesheets are filed after over none months,” Mhaske said.

He added that in a majority of the cases that saw acquittals, the verdict was because of the failure of the police and the prosecution to prove guilt, rather than factors such as a witness turning hostile. “There has to be greater communication between the investigating agency and the prosecution wing,” Mhaske said.

The white paper also found 57 per cent vacancy in the police control room, up from 51 per cent last year. “This is the unit that will answer to the queries and problems of the common man. Such a shortage in this unit is not a good sign,” Mhaske said. He added that apart from this, the State Security Commission, that was to be formed in several states to carry out reforms in the police department, had not been set up by the present government in Maharashtra. A unit dedicated to complaints against policemen — the State Police Complaints Authority — too was not functioning, though committee members had been appointed to it, Mehta said.

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