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Andhra Pradesh, Delhi's sister city

Last Updated 29 December 2012, 19:16 IST

Andhra Pradesh and Delhi share a special place in the annals of crimes against women in India in recent times, even though the state registered a slight dip in such incidents during 2012.

National Crime Records Bureau records that AP figured consistently in 2008, 2009 and 2010 as a state with highest incidents of crimes against women, at par with Delhi.

A total of 76,924 incidents of crimes against women have been recorded from 2008-2010. This is the highest in India for a state and AP topped this dubious list for three consecutive years.

A total of 3,807 cases of rape, 14,511 cases of molestation, 11,633 cases of sexual harassment (eve-teasing) were recorded. On an average, at least three rapes had occurred daily in AP during 2008-2010 and 100 per cent of the rapes were committed by men who were known to the victims.

Pastor exploits, torches teen

In a shocking case a few months ago, N Mounika, a 16-year-old domestic help in the house of Dasi Ajay Babu, a pastor in the Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church, in Nadendla town of Guntur district succumbed to her  burns at the Guntur General Hospital.
Before dying, the girl told her parents that she had been sexually exploited by the pastor for the past one year.

On the fateful day, when the pastor molested the girl again, she threatened to inform her parents. So, he beat her up till she lost consciousness. Afraid that she had died, Ajay poured kerosene on her, set her ablaze and fled. Neighbours, who heard Mounika's cries, rescued her and rushed her to  hospital.

Police said the pastor’s relatives forced Mounika to give a declaration to the magistrate that she had suffered burns while cooking. But the girl’s parents complained to Guntur (Rural) Police and Ajay was arrested.

The starkside of Bangalore

As the national capital reels under the shame that it is no longer safe for women, Bangalore also cannot claim to be safe and secure for women. Take the recent case of two Bhuta­nese sisters travelling in a government–run bus being harassed, physically abus­ed and allegedly molested by a BMTC bus conductor with the driver in tow in broad daylight.

The most shocking part of the incident isn't the aggressiveness and attitude of the BMTC employees, but the indifference of the co-passengers of the bus.

As the driver stopped the bus mid-way and asked the two wom­en to get off even after they bought a ticket, none opposed or went to their rescue. Instead, others alighted, leaving the women to the mercy of the two men.

Like Delhi, the city has its own share of rape victims. A second year law student of the National Law School of India was gang-raped by eight men in the woods of the Jnanabharathi campus on October 13 last. The initial reaction of the  police varied from character assassination of the victim to even denying that there was a rape. However, they later arrested eight wood cutters for the crime.

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(Published 29 December 2012, 19:05 IST)

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