Rape is the fourth most common crime against women in India. According to the National Crime Report Bureau (NCRB) report, rape cases has started witnessing increase after year 2021 which revealed, 31,677 rape cases were registered in the country, or an average of 86 cases daily. According to NCRB record, 28,046 rape cases were recorded during the previous year 2020 and out of the total 31,677 rape cases registered in 2021 nearly 89% of the rapes were committed by persons known to the victims among them the share of the minor victims below age 18 was nearly 10%. It was also found that consensual sex was committed in most of the cases on the false promise of marriage. According to NCRB 2021 statistics, Rajasthan reported the highest number of rapes among Indian states, followed by Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. Among metropolitan cities, the national capital of Delhi continued to have the highest incidence of rape cases as 1,226 in 2021, followed by Jaipur, whereas Kolkata had the least number of registered rape cases among metropolitan cities. Information also revealed that in 80% of sexual violence cases included against Dalit women committed by dominant caste men in Haryana. Moreover, convictions were obtained against all accused persons involved in either rape or murder were committed against girls under the age of 6.

NCRB report specified the 2019 National Crime Records Bureau data, which stated that in Haryana, where Dalits make up around one-fifth of the state’s population, women are raped every day. The cases studied were drawn from 11 out of Haryana’s 22 districts where Swabhiman Society was actively working in these districts in providing support to survivors of sexual violences. The highest number of seven cases emerged from Hisar, six cases in Kaithal and five cases each from Sonipat and Kurukshetra districts. According to the  report Dalit women and girls in Haryana were denied access to justice in cases of sexual violence due to victims in most cases were belonging to higher caste where there were indications Dalit women and girls were specifically targeted for rape by dominant caste men. In over 80% of the cases in this study, all the accused persons involved in the case were from a dominant caste, and in over 90% of cases, at least one of the accused persons was from a dominant caste.  official data from the Haryana SCRB in 2019, showed that in 105 cases of rape against Dalit women, the perpetrators were from a non-Scheduled Caste community in 88.5% of the cases had to compromise due to community and social pressure forcing the survivor or her family into compromises or extra-legal settlements in about 57.5% of the cases. Information revealed Khap panchayats in the state also attempted to interfere with the justice process in over 80% of the cases, by using their economic, social and political power to threaten in most cases. In nearly 50% cases rape victim family remained silent or refrain from pursuing the criminal case or withdrawn complaints or filing of spurious counter-cases with the police due to threats of physical violence and assault, use of political influence, and economic retaliation.

Out of the 40 cases in the study, 62.5% (25 cases) were gang rape cases, which is significantly higher than the 11-12% of gang rapes in rape cases involving all women and girls in Haryana. The high percentage of gang rapes, as found in this study, indicated the collective nature of this crime, whereby sexual violence against Dalit women and girls takes the form of a collective exercise of power and authority by dominant caste members. Of the 40 cases studied, an FIR was not filed in three cases, 12 cases were dropped during the investigation, eight of the cases were dismissed or acquitted by the court and 10 cases are still ongoing and out of the remaining 30 cases which have been concluded, convictions were only obtained in 23.3% of the cases.

The Supreme Court had ordered that all states should abide by the compensation scheme developed by the National Legal Services Authority, under which the minimum compensation payable should be Rs 4 lakh for rape victims and Rs 5 lakh for gang rape victims. However, Compensation was received by the rape victims only in seven out of the 37 cases in this study in which a police complaint had been filed. Compensation was not received in 62% of the cases. Another major obstacle to effective victim and witness protection was the lack of cooperation by the police. Instances of police officers using highly inappropriate and abusive language against survivors or their families in such cases, in turn victimises them further.

In another case supported by the Swabhiman Society, a 13-year-old girl was gang-raped by a group of three men from a dominant caste community. Though her family immediately registered a criminal case, they were threatened with murder by family members of the accused. The survivor’s mother, who was a widow, worked with a family from the same dominant caste as the accused persons and was fearful of losing her job. The combined social, economic, and political pressure forces the victim’s family into compromising the case in most cases. As seen, in 32.5% of the cases, the survivor and sometimes her family were forced to leave the village or neighbourhood due to the stigma surrounding the rape incident and or community pressure. In many cases, the survivor and sometimes her family were only able to continue living in the village because they had agreed to a compromise.