New Delhi: Cases of outraging the modesty of women is the second highest in Orissa in the country after New Delhi, says a new report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) released Thursday.

The national database on crime says that in 2016 Orissa reported 8,252 cases (crime rate 39.1) of assault on women with intent to outrage their modesty.

This included both cases of sexual harassment under Section 354A of IPC as well as assault on women to outrage their modesty under Section 354 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

In this category Orissa is second after New Delhi which reported a crime rate of 43.6 in this category.

Moreover, in the category of crimes registered under IPC Section 354 Orissa tops the list with a crime rate of 23.1, which is the highest in the country. Other alarming crimes in the state which received national attention are atrocities against STs. Orissa is reportedly third in this category after Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

Other crimes in which the state has alarming figures are assault with intent to disrobe (highest in country), human trafficking (third highest) and robbery (highest). However, compared to the previous year the state saw a decline in murders from 1473 in 2015 to 1328 in 2016 and a jump in dowry deaths from 356 to 397.

The report also gives figures of deaths and injuries due to rash driving. As per national crime statistics in 2016 Orissa lost 4219 lives due to rash driving and 6348 persons were injured in road mishaps.

PNN