SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir has received a total of Rs 52.52 crore under the Nirbhaya Fund since its inception, with Rs 1.7 crore specifically allocated for cybercrime prevention against women and children, according to a written reply tabled in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
The Union Territory has seen a decline in reported cases of crimes against women, from 3,937 in 2021 to 3,716 in 2022, according to NCRB data.
Ladakh, on the other hand, received Rs 20.03 crore from the Nirbhaya Fund, but no allocation was made for cybercrime-specific initiatives under the Cyber Crime Prevention against Women and Children (CCPWC) scheme.
Across the country, the central government has allocated Rs 7,712.85 crore under the Nirbhaya Fund since it was set up in 2013 following the Nirbhaya gangrape case in Delhi. Of this, Rs 6,232.83 crore — or about 81 per cent — has been released and utilised till the financial year 2024–25, Minister of State for Women and Child Development Savitri Thakur said in Parliament.
In the past five years alone, annual disbursements from the fund amounted to Rs 657.02 crore in 2020–21, Rs 472.61 crore in 2021–22, Rs 481.90 crore in 2022–23, Rs 686.17 crore in 2023–24, and Rs 586.52 crore in 2024–25.
Among states, Uttar Pradesh was the highest recipient of Nirbhaya Fund allocations with Rs 699.12 crore, followed by Karnataka with Rs 490.71 crore and Delhi with Rs 538.31 crore.
Under the CCPWC project, a sub-scheme of the Nirbhaya Fund, a total of Rs 118 crore has been released to states and Union Territories so far. Chandigarh received the highest allocation of Rs 23.96 crore, followed by Delhi with Rs 2.51 crore and West Bengal with Rs 4.82 crore.
The Minister also clarified that “police” and “public order” are State subjects under the Constitution, and it is the responsibility of the State Governments and Union Territory Administrations to prevent and investigate crimes against women.
The latest NCRB figures, though limited to 2022, reveal persistent challenges. In 2022 alone, over 4.5 lakh cases of crimes against women were registered nationwide. Uttar Pradesh, with 65,743 cases, was the highest, followed by Rajasthan with 45,058 and Maharashtra with 45,331.
Rape, dowry deaths, abetment to suicide, and cruelty by husbands and relatives continue to dominate the crime categories, even as newer threats like cyber harassment and online abuse against women are rising across states.
