An Analysis of Reported Crime against Women and Girls in Eastern India

Crimes against women and girls have been increasing in recent years as reported by the National Crime Records Bureau. It becomes a serious social evil worldwide. The study has been tried to find out the trend of crimes against women for the period of the last ten years (2010-2019) in the states of eastern India i.e. Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal. The study has been based on secondary data from the National Crime Records Bureau, Govt of India. The data have been extracted and analyzed to get the status of crimes in particular categories. The crime records of Bihar show an increasing rate of women assault cases. Jharkhand data shows that indecent representation of women has increased in recent years. In West Bengal Cruelty by husband is the most reported crime in West Bengal and it is also observed that rape cases were decreased in West Bengal continuously in the last ten years. It has been found that Orissa and Bihar are significantly high in crimes like women assault on the internet, an insult to the modesty of women, kidnapping and rape comparing other states of study. Cruelty by husbands and cases under the immoral traffic act had significantly higher in West Bengal compared to other states under study. The Dowry death and kidnapping and abduction are significantly high in Bihar. The different levels of crimes against women in different states not only indicates the status of women in the society and the law and order situations of that state but also it is a reflection of the socio-psychological aspects. Proper implementation of laws along with awareness of related issues, along with continuous monitoring can play a crucial role to minimize the overall crime scenario.