GANDHINAGAR: The Vibrant state of Gujarat is also vibrant as far as rapes of adolescent girls is concerned. The state has seen more than three rapes of adolescent girls everyday during the past 5 years. According to the state government figures released in the ongoing Assembly session there were 6, 215 incidents of adolescent girls raped in the period from October 2015 to September 2020.
Congress MLA from Petlad, Niranjan Patel had raised the question before Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani as to how many rape incidents had occurred from October 2015 till September 2020 in Gujarat, how many persons were still to be nabbed and what action did the government take to curb such incidents.
In reply the Gujarat government's home department informed that during the said period a total of 6, 215 adolescent girls were raped in Gujarat. Practically this amounts to more than three rapes of teenage girls everyday in Gujarat which boasts of having coined the slogan, 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao'.
The maximum number of rapes were registered in the largest city, Ahmedabad with 977 cases. The highest number of gang rapes was also registered in Ahmedabad, 9 during the same period. The Diamond City, Surat was second in line with 753 rapes in 5 years. Surat also saw 7 gang rapes in the same period. Bhavnagar witnessed 432 rapes of adolescent girls from 2015 to 2020 and 6 incidents of gang rape. The Saurashtra capital, Rajkot witnessed 311 incidents of teenage girls raped and 4 incidents of gang rape.
The North Gujarat city of Mehsana registered 272 rapes, Rajkot rural 271, Vadodara city 270, Ahmedabad rural 214, Chhota Udaipur 179, Surat rural 174, Morbi 171, Jamnagar 163 and Patan 153 rapes of adolescent girls.
Out of these 6, 215, the Gujarat Police still has to arrest a total of 209 persons connected with the crimes.
In response to what steps did the government take to prevent such crimes, the home department replied that 39 women police stations were set up across the state. For the protection of women, 181 'Abhayam' women helpline was made available. The department had also launched a Abhayam 181 mobile application on August 6, 2018.
Moreover, Women Security Committees were set up at the village, tehsil and district levels across the state and every district had a One Stop Crisis Centre.