32,500 cases of rape in 2017, 90 in a day, says govt data

New Delhi, December 6

As many as 32,500 cases of rape were registered with the police in 2017, about 90 a day, according to the most recent government data.

Courts disposed of only about 18,300 cases related to rape that year, leaving more than 127,800 cases pending at the end of 2017.

In 2010, police registered 22,172 cases of rape.

Below are some cases:

Dec. 2012: A 23-year-old student was beaten and gang-raped on a moving bus in the capital New Delhi and later died of her injuries. Five men and a juvenile were arrested - four of the men have been sentenced to death and one hanged himself during the trial. The juvenile was freed after completing three years in a reform home.

The crime sparked large-scale protests and led thousands of women across India to break their silence over sexual violence that often goes unreported. Authorities stiffened penalties against sex crimes, introduced fast-track trials in rape cases and made stalking a crime.

Jan. 2018: An 8-year-old Muslim girl was gang-raped and murdered in Kathua town of J&K and six men, including a priest and three police officers, were convicted of the crime.

July 2019: A young woman who accused Uttar Pradesh state lawmaker Kuldeep Singh Sengar of raping her in 2017 and her lawyer are critically injured in a highway collision, when a truck hit the car in which they were travelling. The woman's two aunts, who were also in the car, were killed.

Sengar denies the rape and any involvement in the car crash.

Sept. 20, 2019: Swami Chinmayanand, who previously served as a minister of state for internal affairs, is arrested in connection with rape and sexual harassment allegations made by a law student, police and his lawyer said.

Nov. 28, 2019: The charred remains of the veterinarian are found under a flyover near Hyderabad. Four men were arrested on suspicion of gang-rape and murder.

Dec 5, 2019: A 23-year-old rape victim is set ablaze by a gang of men, including the alleged rapist, as she made her way to court to attend a hearing in the case, in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh, police said.

Reuters