Goa's rate of rape on minors stood at 7.1, the highest in the country, as the tiny state recorded 75 rape cases in 2022 of which 57 victims were girls below 18 years of age, according to statistics released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).

What was alarming is that cases of rape on minor girls constituted a whopping 76 per cent of total rapes reported in Goa in 2022.

The report of NCRB, an agency under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, was released recently analysing crime statistics for 2022 from different states and Union territories.

As per the data, Goa's rate of rape on minors stood at 7.1 (per lakh population), the highest in the country. The coastal state recorded 75 rape cases in 2022 of which 57 victims (76 per cent) were minor girls below 18 years of age.

Of the 57 under-age victims, two girls were below 6, while 12 were between 6 to 12 years. Twenty-six victims were between 12 to 16 years and 17 between 16 to 18 years of age, according to the report.

In 93.2 per cent of the 75 rape cases, which comes out to 68, the offender was known to the victim. Also, nine of the accused were family members.

In addition, Goa's crime rate against senior citizens stood at 21.4 per cent in 2022, below the national average of 27.5 per cent, as per the NCRB data.

In 2020, there were 31 incidents of crime against senior citizens in the coastal state, which increased to 50 in 2021, but dropped to 35 last year, the statistics showed.

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