14 years after Nirbhaya, women still fear violence in public and at home
Fourteen years after Nirbhaya, NCRB data shows over 1,200 crimes against women are reported daily in India, spanning from public parks to private homes.
Fourteen years after the Nirbhaya case forced India to confront the brutal reality of sexual violence, the nation finds itself grappling with a chillingly similar question: are women truly safer, or are they simply being told to stay indoors? The recent alleged gang rape of a 17-year-old girl at Delhi’s Aastha Kunj Park has reignited a fierce debate over whether the solution lies in making public spaces safer or by restricting women's movements.
New data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) suggests that the threat to women is not confined to dark alleys or public parks. Instead, violence is permeating the very places women should feel most secure, including their homes, campuses, and transport networks.
A staggering daily toll of violence
The NCRB’s Crime in India 2024 report paints a harrowing picture of the scale of the crisis. In 2024, a total of 4,41,534 cases of crimes against women were registered across the country. While this represents a marginal decline of 1.5 per cent from the 4,48,211 cases reported in 2023, the numbers remain alarmingly high—surpassing the 2022 totals.
To put this into perspective, the statistics translate to more than 1,200 registered cases of crimes against women every single day. The breakdown of these crimes reveals a complex landscape of violence:
- Cruelty by husbands or relatives: 1,20,227 cases (the largest share of crimes).
- Kidnapping and abduction: 67,829 cases.
- Assault with intent to outrage modesty: 48,303 cases.
- Rape: 29,536 registered cases, averaging more than 80 cases per day.
The judicial bottleneck: Justice delayed
Even when crimes are reported, the path to justice remains long and uncertain. The NCRB data highlights a massive gap between the registration of a crime and a final judicial verdict. At the end of 2024, there were 2,06,777 rape cases pending trial. Furthermore, the conviction rate for rape stood at 24.4 per cent—a figure that only accounts for cases where trials were actually completed, meaning the actual proportion of convictions relative to all reported cases is likely much lower.
Delhi: The capital's ongoing struggle
The national capital continues to struggle with high rates of violence. Delhi City recorded 13,396 crimes against women in 2024, following 13,366 cases in 2023. The city's crime rate stands at 176.8 cases per lakh women, with a police chargesheeting rate of 73.6 per cent. In 2024 alone, Delhi registered 1,058 rape cases, involving 198 girls under the age of 18 and 860 women aged 18 and above.
The vulnerability of minors is a growing concern. Nationwide, crimes against children rose by 5.9 per cent in 2024, reaching 1,87,702 cases. Of these, nearly 37 per cent were registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
"Implementation is flawed": The legal reality
Advocate Seema Samridhi Kushwaha, who represented the Nirbhaya family and has worked on numerous high-profile sexual violence cases, argues that the debate must move beyond just passing tougher laws. She points out that the statistics often fail to capture the true magnitude of the problem.
“On realistic grounds, at the grassroots level, the NCRB data only accounts for reported cases. The data itself shows that in nearly 94% of cases, the crime is committed by relatives or people known to the victim. Many girls cannot even raise their voice against their own people, and countless cases go unreported,” Kushwaha said.
While the 2012 Nirbhaya case led to the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013—which introduced stricter provisions for stalking, voyeurism, and sexual offences—Kushwaha maintains that legal strength does not equal legal efficacy. “We enacted strict laws, but their implementation is flawed,” she remarked, highlighting the disconnect between legislative intent and the reality of justice for survivors.