Alarming rise in women kidnaps in Telangana State

Hyderabad: In what has been an alarming reality, nearly 341 kidnapping or abduction case have been registered in Hyderabad city in 2017; Of them were 135 minor girls and 149 women. These are statistics as filed by National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).

Even more worrisome is that 15 female victims have remained untraced and their whereabouts unknown while 100 women were traced alive. The ratio of total kidnapping and abduction was 4.4.

Of the 138 complaints registered by the National Commission for Women in 2017, 91% complaints came from Hyderabad.

Meanwhile, as per police records, Telangana registered a 20% increase in women kidnap and abduction cases against the corresponding period in 2017. The year also witnessed 11% increase in rape cases and seven per cent increase in crime against women.

As per NCRB report, in Telangana, 1,560 women went missing in 2017. Of this, 663 were minors and 805 women. According to government statistics, 1038 were successfully found alive. In 2016, 284 women were kidnapped from Hyderabad.

Moreover, according to the data released by National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), in 2017 Telangana at 94. 7 had the second highest rate of crime against women in the country after Assam. In India a total of 4,778 women and 18,501 minor girls were kidnapped and abducted in 2017.

When 52.6% of these missing women were found, the percentage of girls who were traced was 55.2 %. Another figure is that 134 women were kidnapped and abducted and compelled for marriage, two other instances were reportedly for marriage.

In 2017, there was no trace of around 46,408 women victims of kidnapping and abduction in the country and while 70,686 women were traced and rescued alive, more than a thousand women were found dead.

Fund utilization

Under Nirbhaya Scheme every state Government has to establish Emergency Response Support System (ERSS), a pan-India single number system for all emergencies. However, Telangana State received zero funding for the scheme for four financial years. In 2016-17, Rs 957.15 lakh was allotted for the State but only Rs 25 lakh has utilized from it in three years.

From the Rs 1,396.91 lakh allotted to the State for the One Stop Centre Scheme, only Rs 138.07 was utilized. Hyderabad received Rs 8, 314.00 lakh for safe city projects in 2018-19.