Rape cases doubled in last five years in State: George

Believe it or not, rape cases have almost doubled in the last five years in the State – from 509 cases in 2009 to 1,030 in 2013.This startling information was disclosed by Home Minister K J George in the Legislative Assembly on Monday.

And the minister, facing criticism for the increasing incidents of rape in the State, has come up with own theory for the rise in such cases and even tried to defend himself.

According to George, the victims have now been boldly coming forward and lodging complaints after the Nirbhaya case (Delhi gang-rape) that triggered nationwide outrage.

Hence the number of registered cases of rape is on the rise. It is not that such incidents were not happening earlier, he argued.

But his argument did not stop the Opposition parties from holding him responsible for the heinous incidents.

In the Pulakeshinagar rape case, the police inspector committed a blunder by not immediately registering a case, while in the Vibgyor School case, the police have been lenient with the school management which had suppressed the incident from the parents and the police, the BJP alleged.

Leader of the Opposition Jagadish Shettar said Bangalore was known for its cultured and peace-loving people.

But in recent times, the incidents of crime have gone up to such an extent that the City was grabbing the nation’s attention for all the wrong reasons.

Former Home minister R Ashoka said that under the Goonda Act, the Bangalore NLSUI rape case was solved within a year.

The rapist in the Pulakeshinagar case was facing not less than 10 criminal cases.

“His ‘adda’ (hangout) used to be Hotel Empire, which is kept open till 11 pm or 12 midnight.” The rising crime graph is bringing Bangalore into disrepute, he said.

Both Ashoka and Shettar demanded the resignation of George.

JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy said the government must not punish the innocent just because people were taking to the streets and demanding action in the schoolgirl rape case.

It should be investigated why the shadow teacher was absent when the rape incident occurred at Vibgyor School. He said the government must find out whether Rafique, the police inspector, was at fault in handling the Pulakeshinagar rape case or the whole police department was responsible.

Crime incidents are steadily increasing in Karnataka as well as in Gujarat, Kumaraswamy claimed and buttressed his argument with statistics.

He said the police should be given a free hand to function and there should be no political interference at all.

“Eighty per cent of the police stations have been reduced into land development offices,” he said.

George said the Pulakeshinagar rape victim and her mother met him at his residence and discussed the status of the case.

Ashoka had earlier said the minister had not visited the victim’s house despite Speaker Kagodu Thimmappa’s instruction.

The minister said that when he was getting ready to visit their place, the victim’s family themselves offered to visit him.