New Dehli : Rape cases have doubled in Delhi over the past decade, with 2012 seeing a 23 percent increase over the past year, according to data released by the Delhi Police on Friday. Reported cases of rape rose from 320 in 2002 to 706 in 2012 in the capital.

Overall crime rates are also on the rise in the capital for the fourth consecutive year, National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) data reveals.

“What was otherwise going to be a satisfying end to 2012 for us turned out to be a tragic last fortnight for the year gone by (sic),” Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar said. He said this with reference to the December 16 gang-rape case in the capital, in which a 23-year-old medical student was brutally tortured and sexually assaulted by six men. ‘Amanat’ (NOT her real name succumbed to her injuries on December 29 in a Singapore hospital where she had been flown to for treatment.

Delhi witnessed 45 rapes and 75 cases of molestation in the days following this gang-rape incident.

NCRB data shows that over the past four years, there has been a persistent increase in crimes against women. Cases of molestation of women have shot up by 10.6 per cent, with the number of cases rising from 657 in 2011 to 727 in 2012.

Crimes against children are also on the rise; 14 children are reported missing from Delhi every day. There were over 3,600 cases of child kidnappings last year as against 3,529 such cases in 2011.

The overall number of crime cases reported in the capital rose to 54,287 in 2012 from 53,353 in 2011. The police commissioner attributed the rise in figures to the prompt registration of cases. He claimed that there has been a success rate of 89 percent in solving heinous offences.