Haridwar most unsafe place for women in Uttarakhand

Dehra Dun, Mar 7 (UNI) Incidence of crime against women is increasing every year in Uttarakhand, with Haridwar proving the most unsafe place for them as the maximum numbers of heinous crimes have been recorded there.

This year has seen a 26.83 per cent rise in crimes against women with a rise in reports of rape, dowry death, abducton and murder.

According to police statistics, 88 cases of rape were recorded in 2005 and went up to 91 in 2006. Similarly, 42 women were murdered in 2005 and the figure went up to 48 next year. There was 52 dowry deaths recorded in 2006 as compared to 38 in 2005. Overall, there were 1073 cases of various types of crimes registered in 2006 as against 846 in 2005.

Clinical Psychologist Dr Veena Singh told UNI that the main reason behind increasing attrocities against women was society's attitude towards women in general. Noting that atrocities towards women began early from female foeticide, she said it was very important that the men ought to be taught to respect their female friends, sisters, mother and other women from the childhood stage itself so that he develops positive attitude towards the female and carries it throughout his life. However, she also said that a woman's attitude, level of confidence, how she carried herself and level of awareness played a vital role in saving herself from trouble.

''Law has a secondary role to play in saving women from any kind of atrocities. The necessity is to change the attitude of the society towards women,'' Dr Singh said.

Meanwhile Uttarakhand Women Commission's Secretary Sujata said that women were looked upon as second-rate human beings. ''Low mentality of males towards a female counterpart instigates crime against them,'' she said, adding the government should provide security to women by implementing effective policies for women.

According to a State Women Commission report, Haridwar was proving most the unsafe place for women with high crime rate against the fairer sex. There was the highest number of rape cases -- 27 -- in the district, which also had the highest number of women abductions (45 cases) and 92 cases of cruelty by husband and family members. Uddhamsingh Nagar District had the highest number of women murdered (17) in 2006.

UNI