look news india
The whole country is angry over the rape and murder of a female doctor in Kolkata. Everyone is demanding strict punishment for the accused. But it is often seen that in rape cases, a lot of time is wasted in sentencing the accused. Due to delay in investigation, the cases go on for years. The accused benefit from the long legal process. It has been seen many times that despite the completion of the trial, the accused do not get punishment and they are easily acquitted.
Rape case investigation ongoing
There are major challenges in investigating and prosecuting crimes against women in India. In 2022, about 45,000 rape cases were handed over to the police for investigation, but charge sheets were filed in only 26,000 cases. This number was less than the number of incidents reported in 2022. According to the report, about 32,000 cases of rape were registered with the police in 2022. However, more than 13,000 pending cases from previous years were already pending, putting a burden of investigation of about 45,000 cases on the police. But in terms of prosecuting the criminals, charge sheets were filed in about 26,000 cases in 2022. This was less than 60% of the cases to be investigated and also less than the number of incidents reported in 2022.
The problem is not limited to rape cases alone but across all the 11 categories of crimes against women analysed, it shows that there is a dire need for effective laws and judicial processes to deal with crimes against women in India.