Rape cases in Rajasthan: 50 pc still await justice, 40 pc dismissed as 'false'

Jaipur: Fifty per cent rape cases in Rajasthan still await justice and forty per cent cases are dismissed as 'false' by the police in the state. Outraged people protested outside the Sodala police station in Jaipur against an officer who refused to register a case of sexual assault on an 11-year-old by a construction worker. His explanation was that 'it wasn't a rape after all'.

Meena Yadav, Councillor, victim's neighbour, Jaipur, said, "The officer said he couldn't register a report as there was no rape. Should the police wait for a rape to happen before registering a case? How is this fair? The victim's father had a harrowing time for three days and the police too kept threatening him."

After the protests, a case of sexual assault was registered, but the police station in charge Mangu Singh, has not even been suspended. Instead a case of disrupting peace was filed against the protesters. Giriraj Meena, IG police, Jaipur, said, "This matter is under investigation, we are looking into the allegations, anyone found guilty will be punished."

CNN-IBN found that women\'s desks, mandatory for Jaipur\'s police stations were not really in place.

CNN-IBN also found that women's desks, mandatory for Jaipur's police stations were not really in place. CNN-IBN's reality check of women's desks across at least six police stations across Jaipur shows the same picture - empty rooms with stray pieces of furniture and sign boards lying unmanned, unattended almost everywhere.

Two of Jaipur's women police stations have men in charge of them. Shortage of women in the police could be why Rajasthan is fourth in crimes against women. Numbers show chargesheets are filed only in half of the rape cases registered, Rajasthan police finds four out of 10 rape cases to be 'false', leading to a poor conviction rate.

Kavita Shrivastava, civil rights activist, said, "We need procedures at police level that are simple and don't dis-empower the women, we need a culture within investigating authorities wanting to ensure justice."

It's the need of the hour to engineer the attitude of the police towards victims of sexual assault at the training level itself, not just to ensure that their agony is not further deepened by the insensitivity of the police but also to see to it that justice in the process is not a casualty.

(For updates you can share with your friends, follow IBNLive on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest)