M A I N   N E W S

The dark side of fairer sex in Jammu & Kashmir
Arteev Sharma/TNS

Jammu, March 26
Women are supposed to be the worst sufferers in trouble-torn Jammu and Kashmir, but the crime figures in the state paint a different picture.

As many as 2,177 women have been booked or arrested on charges of outraging modesty of other women, abetting rape, murder, attempt to murder, rioting, drug peddling and burglary during the past two years. Of them, 2,114 were booked under the Ranbir Penal Code, while 63 were arrested under various local and special laws.

Three women, including two foreigners, were detained under the Public Safety Act (PSA). Shockingly, 279 women (68 in Kashmir and 211 in Jammu) arrested for various offences are in the age group of 46 and above.

“As many as 633 women, including four from Pakistan, were arrested over the past two years in Kashmir valley while the number of women arrested in the Jammu region for the same period stood at 1,544, including four Burmese nationals,” Chief Minister Omar Abdullah told the state Legislative Assembly in a written reply to a question by PDP legislator Shafi Ahmed Wani today.

Omar, who also holds the charge of the Home Department, said 133 women (61 in 2010 and 72 in 2011) were arrested for outraging the modesty of other women. “The number of women involved in abetment to rape cases was 15 in the past two years,” he said.

The number of women arrested on murder charge during the same stood at 55 (28 in 2010 and 27 in 2011), while 48 others were arrested for abetting kidnappings and abductions, 122 (73 in 2010 and 49 in 2011) for involvement in stabbing cases, and 52 for involvement in burglary and theft cases.

“Eleven women were arrested for the criminal breach of trust while 405 were involved in rioting. Fifteen women were arrested for doing obscene acts in public,” Omar said.