New Delhi: The result of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election 2022 is just a day away. UP holds a special position in India's politics and the seven-phase elections saw campaigning by political bigwigs like Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, Priyanka Gandhi, Akhilesh Yadav among many who addressed the public on various issues.

One such significant issue is women's safety. Home Minister and BJP’s power man Amit Shah in one of his election rallies claimed that “UP under Yogi government is safer for women and even a 16-year-old girl can roam freely wearing her jewellery on at midnight.”

On the other hand, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who emerged as an influential leader with her “Ladki Hoon Lad Sakti Hu” campaign, called BJP’s women safety claim in UP a “Jumla” and insisted that the situation (women's safety) is worse today.

So what do the numbers say?

Note: For this article, only cases of rape, acid attack, kidnapping & abduction and assault on a woman to outrage her modesty (which includes cases of harassment, stalking and voyeurism) have been taken into consideration.

2020: Crime stats

As per the National Crime Record Bureau’s “Crime In India” report of 2020, 9864 incidents were reported in Uttar Pradesh under the ‘Assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty’ category.

Out of this, 3935 incidents were of sexual harassment, 1728 were of assault or use of criminal force to disrobe a woman and 326 were registered cases of stalking.

This apart, reported kidnapping and abduction (women) cases stood at 7709 in the year 2020.

Notably, reported rape cases were 2,796 while rape with murder incidents were 31.

Crime against women over the years:

Crime in numbers: 2012-2016

• As per the National Crime Bureau’s report, from 2012 to 2016, 16,321 incidents of rape were reported. This was the time when Akhilesh Yadav was the chief minister of UP.
•  A total of 49,557 incidents of kidnapping and abduction of women were reported.
• Assault with the intent to outrage women’s modesty figure stood at 38,375.
• 148 cases of acid attack were reported in UP from 2014-16.

According to the National Commission of Women annual report, in Uttar Pradesh, which topped almost all the indexes when it comes to of crime against women, 8,628 complaints were booked by the NCW in 2012, 9,226 (2013), 19,385 (2014), 14,990 (2015) and 9,756 (2016).

Crime in numbers (2017-2020)

• As per the National Crime Bureau’s report, under Yogi Adityanath’s government, 14,402 rape incidents were reported from 2017-20 in Uttar Pradesh.
• 51,132 cases of kidnapping and abduction of women were filed.
• Assault with the intent to outrage women’s modesty incidents stood at 47,014.
• Reported acid attack cases were 136.

Notably, the NCW received 8,454 complaints from UP in 2017, 11,289 in 2018, 11,872 in 2020 and 15,828 in 2021.

How women living in Uttar Pradesh feel:

Pragati Agarwal, a resident of Varanasi and a psychologist by profession, says she observed no difference as far as the women's safety issue is concerned in Uttar Pradesh. However, she feels that the Akhilesh Yadav government made better efforts to tackle the issue.

“Akhilesh Yadav's government took a major step to ensure the safety of women. The first was launching the women's power line (1090). And I can say that it worked for a fact because many of my friends lodged their complaints and not only was their issue resolved their identity was kept confidential. Yogi Adityanath also created an Anti-Romeo squad but in my opinion, it didn’t do much to curb crime against women,” she added.

"As far as heading out alone at night is concerned, I wouldn't say I feel safe stepping out at night and there’s always some sort of hesitation and fear," says Pragati Agarwal.

Rashika Singh, who is getting her MBA degree in UP’s Mathura, feels she would never choose to go out at night because she doesn’t feel safe.

As far as improvement in women's safety is concerned, Singh believes Yogi Adityanath’s govt has done a better job than his predecessor.

“Fortunately, I have personally not experienced anything since BJP came to power and the statistic also suggests that they have made progress, so yes, I feel Yogi’s govt is better but I am not ready to say that I can go out at night alone.”

Astha Singh, an IT professional from Kanpur, said, “No, I don’t think Uttar Pradesh has reached a point where we can say women can roam around freely at night. I make sure I reach home before sunset when I am alone. Even if I use my personal vehicle to travel, I avoid heading out at night.”

"However, I agree there has been an improvement under Yogi Adityanath’s government. Earlier, it would seem as if the criminals had no fear of the administration. This seems to be changing. Criminals seem to fear those in power now "

Talking about women's safety in UP,  Kriti Mishra, a BPO professional from Kanpur, says “I think the police has become more active now, they respond in time and with the greater sensitivity."

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