In a startling revelation, a team comprising Evidence, a Madurai-based NGO, has presented comprehensive data indicating a steep rise of 40% in crimes against women in Tamil Nadu.

Addressing a press conference, Evidence executive director A. Kathir said on Friday that SC/ST women and children were the worst sufferers.

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A majority of the victims is yet to come out of the shock and undergoing severe psychological trauma.

The study, which was conducted during July-September, has data from 2019 to 2024 (six years) from 26 out of 38 districts.

For the study, the team took 90 cases and it was shocking to note that only in three cases, the accused were convicted. In 98% of the 90 cases, charge-sheets were not yet framed for multiple reasons.

The only solace to the victims was that the police had registered FIR in all the 90 cases, Mr. Kathir said and added that the age group of victims ranged between 16 and 66 years.

Of the 90 cases, 51 victims were Parayars, 26 from Arundathiyar community, 8 belonged to Devendrakula Vellalar, two tribal people and 3 others.

The data showed that 27 victims of the 90 were educated up to Standard IX, 11 studied up to Standard 10, six were diploma holders, 14 were undergraduates, five PGs and 19 others were uneducated.

There were 43 casual workers, nine worked with private firms, two in government, one victim was working with a government-aided institution and 35 were unemployed or were in dwellings without jobs.

At least, 63 victims said that they were raped ones while 27 others said that they were raped multiple times.

The study showed that the accused from the dominant caste had abused the victims by caste, sexually and also threatened with dire consequences. In six incidents, the victims were murdered.

The study showed that 19 incidents had been committed on the victims’ premises, 20 incidents had been committed in the habitations owned by dominant caste members, 26 incidents had happened in public places and one case was reported in a government building among others.

Mr. Kathir said that though the laws were clear that charge-sheets should be framed in two months and from that date, the trial court should deliver its sentence/order in 90 days, it was absent in a majority of the 90 incidents.

He said that in a case reported in April 2022 in Thanjavur district, a 22-year-old SC woman was gang-raped by three persons. While the police had arrested seven persons, there had been no legal relief for the victim even after 40 months had passed by.

Likewise, in a yet another shocking incident reported in Dindigul district in March 2024, wherein a 16-year-old girl and a 18-year-old girl were raped by four persons. The case was yet to come for trial in the court.

The study also showed that caste killing crimes too had not been given their due attention by the law-enforcing agencies and the judiciary.

The government, Mr. Kathir said, should narrow down the gaps between the police and judiciary. In many cases, the accused made use of the loopholes in the criminal judicial system. In such cases, the government should be pro-active, he said.

Only when women are safe, be it SC or ST or a non-Dalit, the society would improve and the civil society would get confidence in the government only when the accused are punished as per laws, he said, and added that overall, 7,500 cases were pending in different districts in Tamil Nadu and 10% among them was from Madurai, which accounted for a whopping 750 cases.

Though the State government has constituted a high-power committee to review the status of the cases twice a year under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister, the delayed action caused mental agony among the victims is a fact, he underlined.

While special courts functioned in 18 districts, a concerted effort from multiple stake-holders, including the judiciary, alone would instil hope and much needed confidence in the victims, he added.