The database will be accessible only to law enforcement agencies and not to the public, with , names registered, including those convicted of rape, gang rape, child sex crimes and sexual harassment, according to a home ministry statement.
The register comes as a spate of sexual assault cases have rocked the country, which was named the most dangerous in the world for women by experts in a survey published by the Thomson Reuters Foundation in June. Earlier this week, police arrested the principal and four staff members of a boarding school in northern India over the rape of a teenage student. Police said they detained four male students for the rape, which left the girl pregnant.
The school staff are accused of destroying evidence and covering up the crime. In southern Kerala state, protests and calls grew this week for the arrest of a bishop accused of repeatedly raping a nun over a period of two years.
In August, police in northern Uttar Pradesh state rescued 20 girls and three boys from a home where they were sold for sex. That raid came just weeks after police rescued nearly 30 girls who were sexually assaulted and tortured at a shelter in Bihar state. The accused, all Hindus, are currently on trial. The case prompted the government to approve the death penalty for the rape of girls under 12, and also increase the prison term for the rape of older girls and women.
More than cases were reported daily in India in , the latest government data shows. Jayshree Bajoria of Human Rights Watch had similar concerns, telling the Thomson Reuters Foundation that even a rumor could prove dangerous in a country where incidents of mob justice have spiked recently.
