MUMBAI: The Sheena Bora murder case, in which her mother Indrani Mukerjea is an accused, is not an isolated incident involving a woman in a serious crime.Last year, as many as 579 women were arrested for murder in Maharashtra . Although way below the number of men arrested for the same crime in the same period (5,187), it is the highest for any state.The crime report for 2014 released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) last month also places Maharashtra second and third among all states and Union Territories for the number of women arrested for attempt to murder and culpable homicide not amounting to murder, respectively. Maharashtra also top 36 states and UTs for women arrested under all types of offences.In Maharashtra, 579 women were arrested for murder in 2014, followed by Uttar Pradesh (472), Karnataka (330), West Bengal (317) and Madhya Pradesh (316). The report said that the maximum number of crimes were committed by women in the 30-45 age group, followed by those between 18 and 30 years.According to the NCRB report, 1,94,867 women were arrested across 36 states and UTs, of which 30,568 were from Maharashtra. The latter figure is nearly double that of Uttar Pradesh (17,437). Rajasthan (16,187), Gujarat (14,152) and West Bengal (12,181) follow.In Maharashtra 95,174 women were arrested in the 2012-2014 period. The charges covered a wide spectrum: murder, attempt to murder, culpable homicide not amounting to murder, rape, attempt to commit rape, kidnapping & abduction, dacoity, dacoity with murder, preparation for dacoity, robbery, burglary, theft, unlawful assembly, riots, breach of trust, cheating, forgery, counterfeiting, arson, grievous hurt, dowry death, assault on woman with intent to outrage her modesty, cruelty by husband and relatives, importation of girls, causing death by negligence, offences promoting enmity between different groups, extortion, disclosure of identity of victims, rash driving or road rage, human trafficking and unnatural offences.Mumbai police spokesperson, DCP Dhananjay Kulkarni said: “Very few women manage to give up crime after release from prison; 99.9% of them turn into hardened criminals. Many form gangs specializing in pick-pocketing, theft and economic offences.”A study done by S P Singh for NCRB in 2004 on involvement of women in violent crimes stated that in the past too experts have concluded that the increasing incidence of violence by women shows that they have a natural capacity to be as violent as men. The study emphasized the involvement of Indian women only in violent IPC crimes: it was astonishing to note that they nearly stand shoulder to shoulder with their male counterparts in their criminal pursuits.“Genders are coming closer and just as there are unisex clothes, crime too is gender-neutral,” said psychiatrist Dr Harish Shetty, adding that in this context, “Maharashtra has been a failed state for the last decade and will need a lot of political will to wrest back its old glory”.Former IPS officer-turned-lawyer Y P Singh said Maharashtra is a progressive state where woman are relatively freer than in other states. The endemic problem of drunkenness leaves many households prone to domestic strife. “Further, Maharashtra is a relatively richer state, where the extent of economic crimes is much more vis-à-vis other states. In most of the cases, women members of the household directly or indirectly participate in business. All these put together leads to a higher incidence of crime being committed by women in Maharashtra,” said Singh.Sion Hospital dean Dr Suleman Merchant said the data will shock many in India, who because of social, cultural and traditional reasons consider women as mere homemakers.