Women most susceptible to crime in City: Ashoka

As many as 646 women were murdered in urban areas of the State in the last five years and 479 such cases were reported in Bangalore City alone, Deputy Chief Minister R Ashoka informed the Legislative Council on Tuesday.

According to Ashoka, who is also the Home Minister, Karnataka had recorded 544 rape cases, of which 391 were in Bangalore.

Of the 3,041 other kinds of atrocities against women in the State, 2,082 were in Bangalore City.

Other urban areas recording high rates of crime against women are Mysore, Hubli-Dharwad and Mangalore.

The minister said single women in urban areas were increasingly becoming victims of such crimes.

Till June this year, 359 cases of chain snatching were registered in urban areas in the State and 225 of them were in Bangalore.

Replying to a question raised by Congress leader Motamma, Ashoka said the government was in the process of identifying the houses of single women and senior citizens so that help can be provided to them in case of an emergency.

Review meeting

A police review meeting will be called within 15 days to discuss various issues related to crimes against single women in urban areas, he said.

The Home department is also planning to introduce alarm systems in houses where single women live, so that the nearest police station and police on patrol can be alerted in case of problems.

Also, as a long-term solution to tackle such crimes, 3,000 women constables have been recruited to assist women in registering crime cases without hassles.

IT firms have been directed to make sure that proper photographs, bio-data and other documents are collected before recruiting drivers for women’s transport facilities, especially for night cab services, he said.

‘Behave properly’

Motamma suggested that the police, irrespective of gender, should be asked to behave properly with women who come to register complaints at police stations and CCTVs should be installed at stations to monitor their behaviour.