Parliamentary panel calls top MHA officials to brief it on crimes against women issue

New Delhi, Oct. 15 (PTI): In the wake of the alleged case of gang-rape in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras, a parliamentary panel has called top Union Home Ministry officials to appear before it next week and brief the members on ‘Atrocities and Crime Against Women’, sources said on Thursday.

They said the home secretary has been called to appear before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs and is expected to brief it on the issue of crimes against women. Besides this, the reconstituted panel will also discuss issues related to the management of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs chaired by senior Congress leader Anand Sharma will be briefed by the officials of the Home Ministry on October 22 on the subject of ‘Atrocities and Crime Against Women’, according to a notice issued by Rajya Sabha Secretariat.

India recorded on an average 87 rape cases daily in 2019 and overall 4,05,861 cases of crime against women during the year, a rise of over 7 per cent from 2018, according to the latest government data.

The country recorded 3,78,236 cases of crimes against women in 2018, the data compiled by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) showed. A total of 32,033 cases of rape were lodged in 2019, which was 7.3 per cent of all crimes against women during the year.

In 2018, as many as 33,356 rapes were recorded across the country, up from 32,559 in 2017, according to the data from corresponding years.

The NCRB, which functions under the Union Home Ministry, is tasked with collecting and analysing crime data as defined by the Indian Penal Code and special and local laws in the country.