Rape cases have more than doubled in India in the period between 2001 and 2014. Worse , the number of cases of cruelty against married women has risen nearly 2.5 times, according to a long-awaited report on the ‘Status of Women in India’, released at the International Conference on Gender Equality (ICGE)- 2015 at Kovalam, partnered by the Kerala Government and UN Women, a United Nations body.
While the number of rape cases registered between 2001 and 2014 rose from 16,075 to 36,735, cases of cruelty against married woman jumped from 49,170 to 1,22,877.
Top gender-policy makers, gender academicians and feminist activists from more than 20 countries are participating in the International Conference. “Home, apparently, is the first sanctuary of violence against women. This, often, hits in the form of incest and early marriage,” pointed out Pam Rajput, chairperson of a high-level committee on the status of women in India, at the three-day conclave being held near the state capital.