Jharkhand High Court

Ranchi, Sept. 19: The state government today told Jharkhand High Court that as many as 917 cases of rape had been registered from January to August, 2013, the highest in Sahebgunj and the lowest in Khunti, but only 207 were under trial.

Senior standing counsel Rangon Mukhopadhaya presented an affidavit before the high court to this effect, taking into account FIRs lodged in police stations across the state.

“Sahebgunj district tops the list with as many as 116 registered rape cases, while Khunti has recorded seven,” Mukhopadhaya said.

Among the five prestigious state districts, Ranchi has registered 97 cases, Jamshedpur 65, Dhanbad 44, while Hazaribagh and Bokaro have tied at 45.

A division bench of acting Chief Justice D. N. Patel and Justice Amitav Gupta were hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) on the high incidents of rapes of women, girls and minors in the state.

Mukhopadhaya added that 207 cases were at various stages of trial pending before lower courts.

The division bench directed the state government to state the number of public prosecutors appointed in lower courts to conduct prosecution against the accused.

The court verbally observed prosecutors should be immediately appointed in the subordinate judiciary so that trials were not delayed.

“If need be, special judges will be appointed to hear cases involving sexual offences so that they are disposed and the guilty punished,” the judges said.

The high court had initiated the PIL in April this year after two grisly rapes on minor girls in Ranchi. On April 25, a six-year-old was raped, brutally tortured and killed in Doranda, while a three-year-old was molested in Burdwan Compound.