Crime against women in Uttar Pradesh might have hit the headlines, but following two Khabar Lahariya journalists on a day’s work shows that little has changed over decades in UP On June 17, at 4.15 pm, 15-year-old Sushma (name changed) walked to Kamasin block police station, in the Banda district of Uttar Pradesh, and lodged an FIR. She accused her 40-year-old father of rape. For the last three years, Brajesh Kumar (name changed) had assaulted Sushma, threatening to kill her if she didn’t comply. When she sought refuge with her relatives, he would haul her back, beat her and rape her. He had raped her earlier that morning as well.

Four hundred kilometres from Banda, the horrific rape and murder of two Badaun cousins in the last week of May brought UP’s law-and-order problems into the spotlight yet again. In a country where a rape occurs every 22 minutes, 10 per cent of rape cases reported are from UP, the third highest. From 2006 to 2012, this number increased by 55 per cent, while the national average saw an increase of 26 per cent. The State accounts for 22 per cent of the country’s kidnapping and abduction cases, and the highest number of dowry deaths. Cases of incest rape in India rose by nearly 47 per cent from 2011 to 2012. And in 98.2 per cent of rape cases, offenders were known to the victims — like in Sushma’s case.

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