Study Report

Contents of Study Report
(In the file saved on Notebook I found only these folders-files and after copying them here I have deleted the File on hard-disk on 04-11-2011)
1. covering Letter
2. Synopses of
(i) Inlaws, Outlaws and The Rule of Law
(ii) Crime, women and Justice Delivery : The Numbers Speak
(iii) Dowry Deaths in Maharashtra
(iv) Maharashtra Profile on Crime Against Women : Rape
3. ABBREVIATIONS USED
4. Maharashtra Parameters
5. Report 1
6. Report 2
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Smt. Leena Mehendale Dt 15 th Jan. 2002
E-18, Bapu Dham,
Chanakyapuri,
New Delhi - 110021

To
The Chairperson,
N.C.W.
4, Deen Dayal Marg
New Delhi --110002

Madam,
I was granted Study Leave w.e.f. 1.10.2001. Please find enclosed a report on the work done by me during the Study leave.
I wish you a very Happy New Year.
yours faithfully,

(Leena Mehendale)

Copy to,
Shri Vaidyanathan Aiyyar, IAS
Secretary, Dept. of Women and Child Development
Government of India
Shastri Bhavan,
New Delhi 110001

Copy to,
Smt Chitra chopra, IAS
Establishment Officer
North Block,
New Delhi 110001
==========================================================================
Maharashtra and Bihar Parameters 1996
Area ........
Mid-decade Population of 1996 --
Revenue Divisions: Konkan, Pune, Nashik, Marathwada, Amravati, Nagpur
No. of Districts : 32
% Urbanisation
Mahanagarpalikas
% literacy 1991 % literacy 2001
fmr_6 (female to male sex ratio for 1000 males) 1991 and 2001
Districts with sizable Tribal Population: Raigad, Thane, Pune, Nashik, Dhule, Nagpur, Gadchiroli, Chanrapur
Rate of Crimes
Rate of Crimes Against women
Rate of rapes
Bihar Parameters:
Area ........
Mid-decade Population of 1996 --
Revenue Divisions: Purnea, Tirhut, Patna, Darbhanga, Magadh, Saharsaa, Bhagalpur,
Ranchi, Palamu, Hazaribag, Deoghar
No. of Districts :
% Urbanisation
Mahanagarpalikas
% literacy 1991 % literacy 2001
fmr_6 (female to male sex ratio for 1000 males) 1991 and 2001
===========================================================================
Synopses
(i) Inlaws, Outlaws and The Rule of Law
This paper presents spatial analysis of two most heinous crimes against women namely, rape and dowry deaths across the country.
1)Most of the districts with high rates of rape have low dowry deaths and vice versa
2)The district with highest rape rate (887) is East Siang in Arunachal Pradesh, while that with highest dowry death rate (300) is Mainpuri in UP
3)Out of first 50 districts having high rape rate (greater than 400 per crore ), 27 are from MP.
4)Similarly, out of first 50 districts having high dowry death rates (more than 125 per crore) 21 are from UP.
5)Thus a vivid clustering of these two crime types is seen. Moreover, in the high rape rate list, no district has dowry death rate higher than 200. In the high dowry death list, no district has rape rate higher than 700.
6)The either – or nature of these two heinous crimes against women points to an unfortunate dilemma before the women. Those who seek to come out of boundary walls of domestic life face the violence outside while those who seek to remain inside, face dowry deaths. Where can a woman find the succor?
7)A scatter graph demarcates a zone in which both the crime types are simultaneously on the higher side. These districts are from MP, Delhi, Haryana, UP, Maharshtra, Andhra Pradesh, and Rajasthan. This shows that we need to concentrate on the central part of India for creating atrocity free environment for women.
------------------------------
(ii) Crime, women and Justice Delivery : The Numbers Speak
The national crime statistics as published by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) can be taken as a starting point for the spatial analysis of the crime situation in India and possible suggestions for a proper strategy to reduce the crimes. this can be further linked to the study of the justice delivery system, sex ratio imbalance, literacy, work force participation, etc. based on which a geographical thrust area can be delineated.
An analysis of crime records for the years 1995-96-97 for 21 types of crimes under the IPC and six types of crimes against women as done hereunder showed that:
1)Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra registered the largest number of crimes. However, the rate of rime was highest in Delhi, being at least 150 per cent higher than in any other State.
2)The rate of total lcrimes against women was highest in Rajasthan , M.P., Delhi and Maharashtra.
3)States with low crime rates are Lakshadweep, Punjab, Meghalaya, Nagaland and West bengal.
4)Four States with maximum crime rate are also othe states with highest rape rate. They are Delhi, Rajasthan, MP, Mizoram. A scatter diagram of total crimes versus rapes shows a general corelation between the two. Hence the increase in the total crime rate should ring a bell of alarm.
5)Punjab having low rates for all other crimes against women has the fifth highest dowry death rate.
6)West Bengal having low crime rates has surprisingly the highest ratio of crimes against women to total crimes.
7)The lower number of crimes in some States could be on account of improper or non-recording.
8)States having high rates for dowry death are seen to be having low female to male ratio, particularly for the 0-6 age group as registered in the census of 2001.
9)The NCRB must start making a separate record of organised or mass atrocities against women. This has not been done as yet.
10)In most of the States the justice delivery is unfavourable to women victims. Conviction rates for rapes are much below those for overall crimes.
---------------------------------------
(iii) Dowry Deaths in Maharashtra
The article presents spatial analysis of dowry deaths in Maharashtra Briefly the result shows that 1) After the reporting of these crimes to the NCRB started in 1995, there is sudden overall decline in the reported instances of dowry deaths 2) all districts of Marathwada division, characterised by low women literacy rates, have the highest rate of dowry deaths 3) this is in contract with the districts of Nagpur and Amravati divisions having high women literacy and also high rate of rapes 4) domestic torture, which is partly due to dowry demands but has other ingredients too, shows a different profile with all three divisions presenting higher rates 5) Konkan division and Western Maharashtra come out as districts of low rates in both types of crime.
---------------------------------------
(iv) Maharashtra Profile on Crime Against Women : Rape
As the name suggests this article analysed the district wise number and rate of rapes in Maharashtra over the decade of 90s. The notable observations were:
(i) Nagpur and Amravati divisions have very high rate of rapes much beyond their share in the total population of Maharashtra; (ii) most of the districts have shown a sudden jump in the crime of rape in the year 1995 and 1996 (iii) between 1996 and 1999, Latur has shown a sharp decline in the number of rapes whereas Ratnagiri has shown a very steep increase and both these abnormalities need further investgiation; (iv) despite low level female literacy, the seven districts of Marathwada division have a comparatively low rate of rapes; (v) the incidence of mass rapes that occurred recently in the remote village of Kothewadi of Ahmednagar district foils all traditional explanations and is perhaps an indication of what media depiction of women can do towards increasing the crime against women in future; (vi) in tribal areas the rate of rape against women is very high which calls for a study of the victims and the accused.
--------------------------------------
This study will provide the much-needed statistical base for any future analysis of crime and criminology of rape. It will also provide policy guidelines to the district administration, the police machinery and to the social activists. The Home Department of Maharashtra may immediately take a review of their police strength and efficiency of investigation including preventive measures in the Nagpur and Amravati divisions so as to control the higher rate of rapes in these divisions.
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ABBREVIATIONS USED:

C.W.D.S Centre for Women Development Studies, Delhi
J.N.U Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi
YASHADA Yaswantrao Chavan Academy of Development Admn. Pune
IIPA Indian Institute of Public Administration
HCMIPA Harish Chander Mathur Institute of Public Admn. Jaipur
NCRB National Crimes Records Bureau, Delhi
RGI Registrar General of India, Delhi
LBSNAA Lal Bahadur Shashtri National Academy of Admn., Musssoorie
NHRC National Human Rights Commission, Delhi
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Report 1
To
The Member Secretary,
N.C.W.

Madam,
I was granted Study Leave w.e.f. 1.10.2001. Please find enclosed a report on the work done by me during the Study leave.
REPORT:
1.During various assignments in Govt. and particularly during my posting as Dir. and later as Jt. Secretary, NCW, there were many occasions when I felt that an analysis of the crime against women deserve a very special attention and consideration. The U.N. Convention on elimination of all forms of discrimination against women (CEDAW) specifically acknowledges that preventing specific crimes - women is one of the pre-conditions to eliminate the discrimination against women. In January 2000, I happened to attend a meeting of this Convention in New York. Before that I had also attended meetings in CWDS (Centre for Women Development Study), Delhi to discuss the issue of Women Study Centers. During these meetings, I became aware that the problems of crime against women had many regional and geo-cultural bearings. It would be fascinating to have their district-level analysis in order to bring out these regional variations. Through a spatial preliminary analysis, it is possible to find out areas where more specific study is needed or policy measures have been suggested.
2.During this period I met and consulted several academicians such as, (i) Dr. Veena Mazudar,Director, CWDS (ii) Ashish Bose (iii)KamalNain Kabra (iv) Sewa Das (v) Mr. Misar (vi) M.P. Bendre (vii) Mr. Sathe (viii) Sujata Manohar.
3.I visited following places:----
4.References:----
5.For my study I have relied on two documents namely, the Annual Reports of National Council of Crime Record Bureau and the Census of 1991 and 2001.
This study suggests that a further study is necessary in the following areas: -
a)There was a sudden jump in the crime of rape in the year 1995-96 both in Maharashtra and Bihar. This was also the period when there was a boom in the television channels and many new channels came up. Hence this becomes an area needing specific study.
b)The incidences of gang raps and mass rapes are increasing. However, NCRB has not yet started keeping their separate record. This should be started.
c)It is seen both in Maharashtra and Bihar that in general, the districts having higher rate of rapes have a lower rate of dowry deaths and vis-a-versa. The linkage between these crimes is not direct. There is no cause and effect relationship. There is need to search the cases in the socio-economic conditions. Educational level and agro-industrial base needs to be studied. The Government may, therefore, sponsor such a study.
d)Within Maharashtra the district of Latur drew my attention because of the highest rate of dowry deaths, as recorded during the period 1995-99.The rate was nearly double the rate of other districts. Latur had suffered an unprecedented earthquake in 1992 killing more than 30,000 people. Similiar destruction has also occurred recently in Kuchh and Bhuj districts of Gujarat. Hence, the Govt.may sponsor a study in Latur, Kachh and Bhuj to see whether any extrapolation is possible in Kuch and Bhuj that will prevent in dowry deaths in future also.
e)The district of Dhule which is predominantly a tribal district also has a very high rate of dowry deaths. This picture is different from ohter tribal districts of Maharashtra. The tribal in Dhule have sizeable land holdings. Hence a more detail study of dowry deaths vis-a-vis land ownership among tribals of Maharashtra can be suggested. In tribal areas, the rate of rape against women is very high which calls for another study of the victims and the accused.
f)All the districts of Pune Division have registered very low female-male ratio for children under the age of 6. These are also the districts that are industrially advanced. The agriculture is also modernized with a shift in favour of cash crops. These districts are showing typical trends as shown in the agro industrially forward districts of Punjab and Haryana. This calls for quick preventive steps by Govt. to stop the crime of female foeticide.

I chose to study the situation of crimes against women in two states namely, Maharashtra and Bihar; one of the representing more forward state while the other representing the backward state in the country. The modality of study was to see the pictures of crime during the entire decade of 1990 to 1999, the incidence of crime, their variations and ups and downs over the decade. The modality was also to compare the crime rates of various districts within Revenue Divisions, as the later is a convenient administrative unit. Revenue Division comprises of 4 to 6 districts and is headed by a senior IAS officer working as Division Commissioner and a senior Police Officer working as Range D.I.G. The district-wise analysis is also helpful for the elected representatives, the Members of Parliament and the Members of the Legislative Assembly who can take positive steps in containing the crime situations within their constituency. The methodology also consisted of preparing maps which can quickly give visual presentation as well as charts and graphs which can highlight the trends. A spatial analysis like this has not been attempted so far. Hence the primary aim of the study was to document these crimes in a comprehensive way.
The purpose of the study was (a) to find out factually the quantitative aspects of crimes against women in different regions and districts of Maharashtra and Bihar, with special emphasis on two most heinous crimes namely rape and dowry deaths (b) to find out if the analysis is indicative of any discernible trend and if so, what was it? (c) To identify areas of further study needed in the light of the above documents.
The study was also extended to a general study on an All India basis in order to find out whether some of the conclusions drawn from the scenario in Maharashtra and Bihar are existing or otherwise on an All-India basis.
Following the study, I have published a few articles, which are attached on subsequent pages.
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REPORT 2
(A Spatial Analysis of Crimes Against Women in Maharashtra and Bihar)
---Leena Mehendale

The U.N. Convention on Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) pointedly acknowledges that preventing women-specific crimes is one of the pre-conditions to eliminate the discrimination against women. In January 2000, I happened to attend a meeting of this Convention in New York. Even earlier, during different assignments in Government particularly as Divisional Commissioner Nashik and later as Joint Secretary, National Commossion for Women, there were many occasions when I felt that an analysis of crimes against women deserved a very special attention and consideration. I had been interacting with participants of many Training Institutes that I often visited as guest faculty on the subjects dealing with rights of women and the issue of cruelty against them. I had also attended a meeting in CWDS to discuss how to use the available NCRB and Census data in a structural format, where it is indicative of deterioration, malfunctioning, or pitfalls in an easily discernible manner. During this meeting, it became clear that the problem of crime against women had many regional and geo-cultural bearings. It would be meaningful to have a district-level disaggregation of crime- related data and it is possible, through a spatial analysis, to bring out these regional variations and suggest areas where more specific study is needed or innovative policy measures could be adopted.

During the present study I met and consulted several academicians such as, Dr. Ashish Bose, Smt Nirmala Buch, Dr. Jayant Banthia, Mr. M.P. Bendre, Mr. Sewa Das, Shri Nanaji Deshmukh, Dr. Kamal Nayan Kabra, Smt. Sujata Manohar, Dr Nirmala Sawant- Prabhawalkar, Dr Prema Ramchandran, Dr. Mrs Sanyal, Dr. N.C. Saxena, Dr. Veena Mazumdar, Mr. Misar, Dr. Satya Ranjan Sathe, Dr. Meera Shiva, among others who are associated with Centre for Women Development Studies, National Human Rights Commission, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Maharashtra State Commission for Women, Voluntary Health Association of India, Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, RGI, Planning Commission, National Institute of Criminology and Forensic Sciences, Calcutta, YASHADA, Pune, Indian Institute of Public Administration, National Crime Records Bureau, etc.

The data for my study was culled out mainly from the Annual Reports of National Crime Records Bureau and Census reports for 1991 and 2001.

I chose to study the situation of crimes against women in two states namely, Maharashtra and Bihar. One represents the more forward states while the other is an underdeveloped state. The analysis covered the decade of 1990 to 1999, the incidence of crime, their variations and ups and downs over the 10 year period. The study compared the crime rates of various districts within a Revenue Divisions, being a convenient administrative unit. A Revenue Division comprises 4 to 6 districts and is headed by a senior civil administrator and a police officers namely Division Commissioner and Range D.I.G. The district-wise analysis would be useful, apart from the district administration, for the elected representatives, the Members of Parliament and the Members of the Legislative Assembly who can take positive steps in containing the crime situations within their constituency. The methodology included use of mapping techniques that could give quick visual presentation as well as charts and graphs that can highlight the trends. A spatial analysis like this has not been attempted so far. Hence the primary aim of the study was to document these crimes in a comprehensive way. Special emphasis was put on two most heinous crimes namely rape and dowry deaths. The study was also extended on an All- India basis to find out whether some of the trends seen in Maharashtra and Bihar were also prevailing in other parts of India.
Following the study, I have published a few articles, which are annexed. Their synopses are given below.

Maharashtra Profile on Crime Against Women : Rape
(Mainstream, June 16th, 2001, Vol. 39, No.26, pp 21-26)
As the name suggests this article analysed the district wise number and rate of rapes in Maharashtra over the decade of 90s. The notable observations were:
(i) Nagpur and Amravati divisions have very high rate of rapes much beyond their share in the total population of Maharashtra; (ii) most of the districts have shown a sudden jump in the crime of rape in the year 1995 and 1996 (iii) between 1996 and 1999, Latur has shown a sharp decline in the number of rapes whereas Ratnagiri has shown a very steep increase and both these abnormalities need further investgiation; (iv) despite low level female literacy, the seven districts of Marathwada division have a comparatively low rate of rapes; (v) the incidence of mass rapes that occurred recently in the remote village of Kothewadi of Ahmednagar district foils all traditional explanations and is perhaps an indication of what media depiction of women can do towards increasing the crime against women in future; (vi) in tribal areas the rate of rape against women is very high which calls for a study of the victims and the accused.
This study will provide the much-needed statistical base for any future analysis of crime and criminology of rape. It will also provide policy guidelines to the district administration, the police machinery and to the social activists. The Home Department of Maharashtra may immediately take a review of their police strength and efficiency of investigation including preventive measures in the Nagpur and Amravati divisions so as to control the higher rate of rapes in these divisions.
------------------------------------------
Dowry Deaths in Maharashtra
(Mainstream, Sept. 22nd , 2001, Vol. 39, No. 40, pp 25-31)
The article presents spatial analysis of dowry deaths in Maharashtra Briefly the result shows that 1) After the reporting of these crimes to the NCRB started in 1995, there is sudden overall decline in the reported instances of dowry deaths 2) all districts of Marathwada division, characterised by low women literacy rates, have the highest rate of dowry deaths 3) this is in contract with the districts of Nagpur and Amravati divisions having high women literacy and also high rate of rapes 4) domestic torture, which is partly due to dowry demands but has other ingredients too, shows a different profile with all three divisions presenting higher rates 5) Konkan division and Western Maharashtra come out as districts of low rates in both types of crime.
---------------------------------
Crime Against Women : Bihar Profile : Rape
(forthcoming)
This article documents the incidences of rape in various districts of Bihar and Jharkhand as reported in NCRB during the decade of 90s and discerns some trends. A few highlights are: I) In view of very high reporting of mass rapes, organized rapes and caste-based rapes in news papers in Bihar, NCRB should start their separate reporting. II) There is a clear-cut division showing that all districts on the north-east, east, and south side have higher rates of rape. III) There are sudden sharp increases in the number of rapes in many districts. They should be studied by senior police officers of Bihar. IV) Bihar and Jharkhand have both avoided to provide 33% reservation for women in gram panchayats. This legal hastle created must be sorted out quickly as an important strp in the direction of women's empowerment. V) The crime rate has increased in the second half of the decade. VI) This study hopes to provide a tool to the elected representatives to deliberate upon the issueof crime against women in their constituencies.
-------------------------
Crime, women and Justice Delivery : The Numbers Speak
(Mainstream, Dec, 8th 2001, Vol. 39, No. 51, pp 17-22)
This article compares i) the rate of "all crimes" and rates of the specific crimes against women.
The national crime statistics as published by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) can be taken as a starting point for the spatial analysis of the crime situation in India and possible suggestions for a proper strategy to reduce the crimes. this can be further linked to the study of the justice delivery system, sex ratio imbalance, literacy, work force participation, etc. based on which a geographical thrust area can be delineated.
An analysis of crime records for the years 1995-96-97 for 21 types of crimes under the IPC and six types of crimes against women as done hereunder showed that:
1)Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra registered the largest number of crimes. However, the rate of rime was highest in Delhi, being at least 150 per cent higher than in any other State.
2)The rate of total lcrimes against women was highest in Rajasthan , M.P., Delhi and Maharashtra.
3)States with low crime rates are Lakshadweep, Punjab, Meghalaya, Nagaland and West Bengal.
4)Four States with maximum crime rate are also othe states with highest rape rate. They are Delhi, Rajasthan, MP, Mizoram. A scatter diagram of total crimes versus rapes shows a general corelation between the two. Hence the increase in the total crime rate should ring a bell of alarm.
5)Punjab having low rates for all other crimes against women has the fifth highest dowry death rate.
6)West Bengal having low crime rates has surprisingly the highest ratio of crimes against women to total crimes.
7)The lower number of crimes in some States could be on account of improper or non-recording.
8)States having high rates for dowry death are seen to be having low female to male ratio, particularly for the 0-6 age group as registered in the census of 2001.
9)The NCRB must start making a separate record of organised or mass atrocities against women. This has not been done as yet.
10)In most of the States the justice delivery is unfavourable to women victims. Conviction rates for rapes are much below those for overall crimes.
-------------------------
Inlaws, Outlaws and The Rule of Law
(Mainstream, Dec 22nd, 2001, Vol. 39, Annual No. pp 105-109)
This paper presents spatial analysis of two most heinous crimes against women namely, rape and dowry deaths across the country.
1)Most of the districts with high rates of rape have low dowry deaths and vice versa
2)The district with highest rape rate (887) is East Siang in Arunachal Pradesh, while that with highest dowry death rate (300) is Mainpuri in UP.
3)Out of first 50 districts having high rape rate (greater than 400 per crore ), 27 are from MP.
4)Similarly, out of first 50 districts having high dowry death rates (more than 125 per crore) 21 are from UP.
5)Thus a vivid clustering of these two crime types is seen. Moreover, in the high rape rate list, no district has dowry death rate higher than 200. In the high dowry death list, no district has rape rate higher than 700.
6)The either – or nature of these two heinous crimes against women points to an unfortunate dilemma before the women. Those who seek to come out of boundary walls of domestic life face the violence outside while those who seek to remain inside, face dowry deaths. Where can a woman find the succor?
7)A scatter graph demarcates a zone in which both the crime types are simultaneously on the higher side. These districts are from MP, Delhi, Haryana, UP, Maharshtra, Andhra Pradesh, and Rajasthan. This shows that we need to concentrate on the central part of India for creating atrocity free environment for women.
-------------------------
Further
A] It is seen both in Maharashtra and Bihar that in general, the districts having higher rate of rapes have a lower rate of dowry deaths and vis-a-versa. The linkage between these crimes is not direct. There is no cause and effect relationship. There is need to search the cases in the socio-economic conditions. Educational level and agro-industrial base needs to be studied. The Government may, therefore, sponsor such a study.
B] Within Maharashtra the district of Latur drew my attention because of the highest rate of dowry deaths, as recorded during the period 1995-99.The rate was nearly double the rate of other districts. Latur had suffered an unprecedented earthquake in 1992 killing more than 30,000 people. Similiar destruction has also occurred recently in Kuchh and Bhuj districts of Gujarat. Hence, the Govt.may sponsor a study in Latur, Kachh and Bhuj to see whether any extrapolation is possible in Kuch and Bhuj that will prevent in dowry deaths in future also.
C] The district of Dhule which is predominantly a tribal district also has a very high rate of dowry deaths. This picture is different from other tribal districts of Maharashtra. The tribal in Dhule have sizeable land holdings. Hence a more detail study of dowry deaths vis-a-vis land ownership among tribals of Maharashtra can be suggested.