NEW DELHI: Nearly three women get raped every day in the eastern state of resource-rich state of Jharkhand, a human rights report has revealed. The report titled – “Jharkhand Human Rights Report 2001-2010 said that there were almost a 1000 cases of rape registered in each of the ten years, after the relatively new Indian state was carved out and christened a decade ago. The report which contains statistics compiled by the Jharkhand Human Rights Movement, said that there were 7,563 reported rapes, 3,398 dowry atrocities, 576 custody deaths and over 100 hunger deaths in Jharkhand in the first decade of the state's existence. The state of Jharkhand was created out of notorious state of Bihar on November 15, 2000 and lies in the heartland of India's tribal population. India's tribals known as adivasis live in the hills which are laden with mineral ore rich belt., Incidents of human rights violations against tribals too have found mention in the report with 174 rapes on tribal women and 194 cases of atrocities on tribals. “During compilation of the report we felt that human rights violations had been rampant in Jharkhand and it could be controlled if the state government was active,” Gladson Dungdung a member of the Jharkhand Human Rights Movement said. The activist also sought to highlight the fact that there were 100 deaths due to starvation of which as many as 40 are from primitive tribe groups, who depend on resources from the forests for their sustenance. The report also highlighted how dalits (members of the sub-lower castes) have been marginalized and tormented over the years in Jahrkhand. The report has cited 60 murders, 106 rapes on dalit women and 1,437 cases of dalit atrocities and 19 cases of untouchability, in which members of an upper caste physically stay away and refuse to even touch members of the sub-lower castes. The report gathered its information from figures of National Crime Records Bureau and annual reports of the National Human Rights Commission, besides visits to the areas where the rates of abuse are high.
