Bhubaneswar, Aug. 30: Odisha is fifth among the 36 states and Union territories in the country in terms of the number of rape cases registered in 2015, reveals the latest report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).

The number of cases of rape, considered one of the most violent forms of crime, increased to 2,251 in the state in 2015 from 1,978 in 2014. In 2014, Odisha was sixth among 35 states and Union territories in the number of rape cases registered.

The report reveals that cases registered in 2015 included complaints from parents of 1,052 minors. The alleged rape of four-year-old girl at a private school in Gangapada on the city outskirts on August 25 has shaken the residents here, especially parents.

Police have arrested the driver of the school bus on charges of rape. The All Odisha Parents' Association has demanded stringent action against the accused in the alleged rape of the four-year-old girl student of the private school at Gangapada.

The states with a higher number of rape cases registered are Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh. Madhya Pradesh tops the chart with 4,391 rape cases registered in 2015, according to the NCRB report.

Apart from rape, Odisha in 2015 also registered 6,499 cases of assault on women with intent of outraging modesty, 356 dowry death cases, 886 sexual harassment cases, 2,587 cases of kidnapping and abduction of women and 225 cases of stalking, said the NCRB report.

The report says that of the 2,251 cases of rape in the state in 2015, the accused in 1,924 cases were known to the victims. Last month, the police had arrested a minor boy and his cousin on charges of raping and killing a minor girl from Bhubaneswar in Keonjhar. The minor accused knew the 16-year-old victim, a resident of Khandagiri in Bhubaneswar. They had taken her to Keonjhar promising to marry her. They raped and killed her and then dumped the body in a forest.

The number of rape cases in the state capital has also increased in 2015 as compared to 2014.

Police statistics reveal 87 rape cases were registered in Bhubaneswar in 2015 as compared to 72 in 2014. Around 68 per cent of the victims were minors.

Police said that in most of the rape cases, the assailant developed a relationship with the victim and then committed the crime. "Several instances have been found of the offender and victim having been in a relationship and the victim making rape allegations after break-up. Besides, there are offenders who lure girls on the pretext of helping them and befriend them before exploiting them sexually," said a police officer.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY PRIYA ABRAHAM