Kerala's shame: A woman is raped every 6 hours

Imaging Ravi JadhavThe alleged rape of a Malayalam film actress in Kochi Kerala last week has brought the states shameful track record of crimes against women into focus There has been a jump of 2288 in reported rape cases from 200716 mdash roughly a rape every six hours While molestation cases increased from 2604 to 4035 during the same period cases of kidnapping sexual harassment dowry deaths and cruelty by husband have seen little difference see tableAlso read Popular Malayalam actress kidnapped molested in moving car for a few hoursDr B Sandhya additional director general of police law and order Kerala points out that the statistics dont necessarily mean an increase in the number of crimes against women Better awareness on reporting crimes stringent policing and the faith in the police machinery have contributed to more women coming forward to report such crimesTwo in custodyThe actress alleged abduction and rape by a gang of men on the night of February 17 has put the entire state machinery on its toes While the prime accused Sunil Kumar alias Pulsar Sunil is yet to be nabbed two of alleged his aides mdash Pradeep 23 a driver and resident of Kottayam and Saalem 23 a bus conductor from Eddapally Ernakulam mdash were picked up on Sunday from a lodge in CoimbatoreKumar along with two of his other alleged accomplices Manikandan and Vijesh mdash all of whom are absconding mdash filed an anticipatory bail application in the Kerala High Court yesterdayThe ordealMartin Anthony 24 a resident of Koraddy Thrissur mdash the actress driver on the fateful night he is employed with Lal Creations Film Distribution in Ernakulam who is accused of colluding with Kumar mdash has told the police he was headed to the actress Thrissur home from Ernakulam when a tempo traveller dashed into his SUV at the Nedumbassery airport signal and a few men barged inThey allegedly took over the vehicle and drove a little distance with the tempo trailing behind before halting on the way to Kakanad There Kumar allegedly entered the SUV and the vehicle resumed its journey to Kakanad En route the men allegedly raped the actress and took photographs of her While unconfirmed reports said the gang intended to use the pictures to blackmail the actor for a ransom of over Rs 60 lakh the Kerala police top brass refused to divulge muchInspector General of Police Ernakulam range P Vijayan said We are investigating the case from all possible angles We cant say much at this juncture On the possibility of a personal enmity between the actress and the accused and the blackmail allegations Sandhya said We are not clear on these angles at this pointShoddy forensic jobThe police case may be diluted by shoddy forensic evidence collection the day after the alleged crime The actress was taken by Nedumbassery police to Government Medical College Ernakulam but she was examined by the oncall gynaecologist despite the facility having a fullfledged forensic medicine and toxicology department The gynaecologist had no past experience with a medicolegal caseThe gynaecologist was tightlipped I have collected all the required evidence and handed it over to the police she said Asked if the garments the actress wore at the time of the alleged crime were sealed along with nail clippings and hair samples she refused to comment A senior forensic scientist from Forensic Science Laboratory Kerala said We had sent a team to inspect the seized vehicles and have collected sufficient evidence from the crime scene The evidence will be analysed and accordingly reports will be submitted to the policeAsked oral swabs nail clippings and garments had been provided to FSL the scientist replied directed this reporter to talk to the police ADGP Sandhya refused to open up on the evidence saying These are part of the investigation which we will inform the court Vijayan claimed that sufficient evidence had been procured from the crime scene and through the medical examination of the actress