New Delhi, Jan 2 (IANS): Delhi has witnessed an 18.3 percent rise in crime against women in 2014 as compared to 2013, with a whooping 31.6 percent rise in rape cases, police said Friday.
A staggering 14,687 cases were registered under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) up to Dec 15, 2014, up from 12,410 in the previous year.
Police data also revealed that 2,069 cases of rape were registered in 2014 compared to 1,571 cases in 2013.
Of the rape cases, 420 accused were the neighbours of the victims. A total of 919 accused were friends or family friends, 283 people were relatives, 66 were employers or co-workers and 298 were otherwise known to the victim. Only 84 accused were strangers in the all rape cases.
In 586 of the rape cases, accused were in live-in relationship or they refused to marry the victim.
A total of 4,179 molestation cases were reported in 2014 against 3,345 were reported in 2013.
The cases of harassment stood at 1,282 in 2014 compared to 879 in 2013, while the cases of dowry death touched 147 in 2014 as compared to 137 in 2013.
On measures to help women, Police Commissioner B.S.Bassi said: "At least 859 patrol vans are stationed 24x7 with instructions to assist women returning late at nights or if stranded.
"Motorcycle patrols and emergency response vehicles are deployed with focus on women security. Deployment of police personnel is kept around girls' school and colleges at the time of opening and closing."
In addition to the measures taken by the force to protect women, every woman in Delhi would be trained in self-defence, he said.
He said that 15,583 girls were trained in the self-defence training course during 2014.
"We appeal to everyone to join hands with us so that every woman in Delhi gets trained in self- defence. I want every woman to have a brown belt in judo," said Bassi at the Delhi Police's annual press conference.
"For this we also plan to conduct mapping of Delhi so that we can choose the areas from where the women will be trained," he added.
Bassi also emphasised on the fact that to reduce the number of crime against women, the "mindset of the society" needs to be changed.