Replying in parliament: Massive rise in rape cases reported in capital last year

Interior minister says there was also a rise in attempted murder cases in ICT amid a largely declining crime trend


Qadeer Tanoli March 12, 2017
PHOTO: REUTERS/FILE

ISLAMABAD: At a time when the overall crime rate in most cases has declined in the capital over the past year, there was a massive rise in the number of rapes.

Last year, as many as 39 cases of rape were reported in the Islamabad Capital Territory against 15 such cases which had been reported in 2015. This was a 160 per cent rise in 2016 when compared to the previous year.

The data was revealed in a written reply submitted by Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan to the National Assembly recently.

Moreover, 119 cases of violence were registered against women in ICT from January 1, 2016, to December 31, 2016, the minister stated in a separate reply to a question raised by an MNA.

According to a break up of this data provided by Nisar, there were 26 cases of murders of women reported in Islamabad last year while eight cases of attempt to murder against women were registered during the same period. In addition to the 39 cases of rape registered, at least 46 cases of assault on women were also reported.

There was also a rise in the number of attempted murder cases in the capital with 142 cases registered in 2016, up from 129 in 2015, a rise of 10.07 per cent.

By comparison, the interior ministry’s data showed that murder cases in the capital had fallen by 19.49 per cent during 2016. During 2015, 118 cases of murder were registered in the capital. This figure had fallen below 100 with 95 murder cases registered in ICT in 2016.

Likewise, there was a massive decline in the kidnapping for ransom cases in Islamabad with just a solitary case reported in 2016. This was down from eight which had been registered in 2015.

Burglaries also saw a considerable decline in the capital territory during 2016.

In 2016, the Islamabad Police had registered 299 cases of burglary were registered against 330 cases of this nature reported in 2015, a drop of 9.3 per cent.

Robberies also witnessed a decline of 53 per cent in 2016 when compared to statistics from 2015. In 2016, only 12 cases of dacoity were registered in ICT against 26 such cases registered in 2015.

Gambling cases declined by 50 percent. Car theft declined by 34 per cent while motorbike theft cases fell by 29 per cent.

The number of incidents of possessing illegal arms also declined by 22 per cent in ICT during 2016.

Nisar, in his written reply, pointed to several measures undertaken to control crime in the capital including crime cluster analysis, crime mapping, data profiling of released prisoners, combing and search operations, joint patrolling by Rangers and police.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 12th, 2017.

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