Gandhinagar, Mar 10 (IANS): The Gujarat government on Thursday disclosed during the ongoing budget session of the assembly that the state saw over five rapes a day in the last 2 years, with over 60 cases of gang rape during 2020 and 2021. A total of 3,857 cases of rape were registered by the Gujarat police during the two years.

Replying to a series of questions by Congress legislators, the Minister of State (MoS), Home, Harsh Sanghavi informed the House that during the period of two years a total of 3,857 cases of rape were registered, including 61 cases of gang rape. The maximum cases were registered in the financial capital of Gujarat, Ahmedabad - 729, followed by 508 in Surat, Vadodara- 183, Chhota Udaipur- 175, Kutch- 166, Rajkot -145.

The minister said that out of the 61 gang rapes, the maximum were registered in Ahmedabad 16, 7 were registered in Rajkot, 5 in Surat and 4 each in Vadodara, Bhavnagar and Kutch.

The deputy Leader of Opposition Party, Shailesh Parmar asked the Minister, "Despite the so-called safe Gujarat and despite the government carrying out programmes like 'Suraksha Setu' a leading state like Gujarat saw over 5 rapes a day, why is it so? I also want to know how many women, girls were trained in self defence through Suraksha Setu and will the Minister please inform us of one exemplary incident where such trained daughters of the state defended themselves or any other daughter's dignity?"

The MoS however, was not able to cite any exemplary case, but said, "In 2020, 43,475 women were trained while in 2021, 58,136 women were trained."