Bhubaneswar: Senior citizens living in the country have now become more vulnerable to crimes than before, if recent data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) are any indication. The data claim that Odisha registered 39 per cent increase in crimes against senior citizens between 2017 and 2018.
As per NCRB data, in the past three years there has been a rise in the number of crimes committed against the senior citizens in the state.
The national data claim that in 2018 the total number of crimes committed against the elderly stood at a three-year high of 319. However, the state registered a total of 229 such cases in 2016 and 232 in 2017. Between 2017 and 2018 there has been a significant rise in these cases. The state saw 39 per cent rise in crimes against senior citizens.
A comparison of the crimes data of 2016 and 2018 indicates that the cases of attempt to murder defined under Section 307 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has doubled in the last three years in Odisha. In 2016, the total attempt to murder cases on senior citizens stood at 12 which notched upto 26 in 2018 while the cases of murder of senior citizens stood at 13.
On the other hand, cases of extortion, dacoity, robbery and cheating like offences against the elderly people have seen a rise in the state. The overall crime rate against senior citizens stood at 5.7 in 2016 which shot up to 8 in 2018.
According to the 2018 NCRB data, Odisha saw 29 cases of simple and grievous injury incidents against the elderly.
On the other hand, the data also revealed that even the elderly women were not spared by anti-socials who either outraged their modesty or made an attempt to do it. The data claims that 8 cases of assault on women with the intent to outrage their modesty were also reported from the state. The senior citizens also became victims of 24 cases of theft, six cases of robbery, two cases of dacoity and other in 2018 alone.
Odisha sees rise in crimes against senior citizens
