Thiruvananthapuram:
Kerala reported 391 cases of rape and 1,380 complaints of molestation of women till April this year, despite the intense awareness campaigns and strict monitoring against gender exploitation in the state.
According to the latest crime statistics by Kerala Police, as many as 4,269 crime cases, including kidnapping, eve-teasing, dowry deaths, cruelty by husbands or in-laws and other offences, besides rape and molestation, have been registered in the state till April 2015.
A total of 1,354 cases have been registered in connection with cruelty by husband or in-laws while 108 cases of eve-teasing, 43 cases of kidnapping, two of dowry deaths and 991 cases of other offences were reported during the initial four months of this year, it said.
The most number of rape cases were reported in northern district Malappuram--51.
Coincidentally, the sexual molestation of a 12-year-old girl with the support of her mother and stepfather in Kottakkal in Malappuram district had triggered uproar in the state recently.
As per the figures, Thiruvananthapuram(rural) and high range Palakkad figure in the second and third positions in the number of rape cases--46 and 32 respectively.
While most number of molestation cases were reported in Thiruvananthapuram (rural)-221, the highest number of cases connected to the cruelty by husband/in-laws were registered in Malappuram (199), it said.
In 2014, as many as 13,880 crime cases had been reported, which included 1,283 complaints of rape, 4,356 molestations and 4,810 cases of cruelty by husbands/in-laws.
The police statistics also said that as many as 238 cases of rape and 43 cases of kidnapping and abduction had been reported against children in the state till this April.