Here’s How Bad Rape Convictions Are in Karnataka

Rape conviction rate is pathetic even after a fast-track court for sexual violence cases was set up in 2013.

If you are a resident of Karnataka, especially Bengaluru, then the charts below would surely change your opinion about how safe the state is for women.

The rate of conviction in rape cases has been abysmally low over the last three years, even though there has been a steep rise in the number of child abuse cases in the state since 2014.

The status of the cases not only reflects poorly on the police force but on the state’s judicial system. This, even after the state has set up fast-track courts after the Nirbhaya rape case.

The number of rapes reported on minors almost doubled in 2014 and 2015 compared to 2013, while the conviction rate dropped to just 1 in 2015. The one conviction in a minor rape case in Karnataka was in Koppal district.

On an average, more than 50 percent of the cases are pending in court.

Congress MLC Ugrappa, who is the chairman of the committee on prevention of sexual assault against women and children, said that the number of cases reported has also increased in the last two years.

People have realised that reporting crimes is better because they are informed by social media about the compensation that comes with reporting sexual crimes.

Ugrappa, Congress MLC

Asked about the low conviction rates, he accepted that the law and order system in the city is partially to blame.

There are four kinds of rapists. One, people with mental conditions (including old age); two, who have failed in love; three, who are vengeful and four, men who are impotent and want to prove that they are also men. From what I have studied so far, men these days are unable to control their sexual desires, which could be the reason for such a high rise in the number of cases.

Ugrappa, Congress MLC

The number of rapes of minors reported in 2014 and 2015 have tripled compared to 2013.

There have been no convictions in cases of rapes against women in Bengaluru in the last three years while the number of cases has only doubled since 2013.

(The writer Sarayu Srinivasan works with The News Minute.)