Bhubaneswar, Jan. 8: Rage against perpetrators of crime against women is on the rise in the entire country, and so is the rate of such incidents in the twin cities.

The annual crime report of the Cuttack-Bhubaneswar police has shown an increase of 55 per cent in rape cases and a jump of 78 per cent in domestic violence cases in the these two cities last year.

The number of rape cases leapfrogged to 84 last year, from 54 in 2011. The number of dowry-related cases has gone up to 473 in 2012 while it was 265 the previous year. Dowry-related cases have increased more than 78 per cent in the state capital and Cuttack.

Police commissioner Sunil Roy said that when he joined as police head, he had instructed the Mahila police and officials of other police stations to sincerely fight crimes against women and register them all.

“That was the reason the number of cases has gone up during this period. At the same time, we have managed to crack all the rape cases and 100 people have been arrested. In dowry-related cases, 880 people were arrested in 2012,” said Roy.

Last year, both cities fared saw more domestic violence cases, as there have been 288 dowry cases registered in Bhubaneswar and 185 in Cuttack.

There has been an 81 per cent increase in domestic violence in Bhubaneswar and 74 per cent increase in Cuttack in 2012 in comparison to 2011.

In the previous years, the Mahila police used to counsel family members when any dowry-related case or crimes against women (except rape) were reported to them. In this process, many cases were solved in the police station, but since mid-2012 every case was reported, which increased the number of cases.

The commissioner said the non-registration of cases would lead to more crimes. “We had instructed our workers not only to register the cases but also detect them at a faster rate and investigate the cases faster. This would help people, particularly women, and we have got the result in terms of detection,” said the commissioner.

He said that in future, the cops would emphasise gender sensitisation and try to strengthen the women police force. One more women’s police station has come up in each of the twin cities.

“We want to increase the number of Mahila police stations and the strength of the personnel there in future. There might be an assistant commissioner of police in charge of the women police stations. These things we have planned and we will try to bring them to fruition to deal with women-related crimes and provide a safer environment,” said the top cop.

Roy also emphasised field policing and beat patrolling to be introduced in the state capital with around 700 more personnel being added to the city police in the next two months.