Women safer in UP and MP than in West Bengal and Kerala, safest in TN, Punjab

Going by official statistics, women appear to be far safer in the "backward" states of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh than in the "progressive" states of Kerala and West Bengal. Tamil Nadu and Punjab are the safest places.

In 2012, the last year for which crime statistics are available, 24,270 cases of crimes against women were registered in India.

West Bengal topped the list with 30,942 cases. (The state came under Trinamool Congress government the previous year after 34 years of Left rule).  Andhra Pradesh registered 28,171 cases. Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh reported 23,569 and 16,832 cases respectively..

Kerala was still behind with only 10,930 sex crime cases. However, when the population figures are factored in, Kerala moves up in the crime table. It is among the states whose share of crimes against women outstrips their population share.

The following nine-state table has been compiled by drawing figures from the 2011 Census and the National Crime Bureau report 2012. (States whose share of Crimes against Women is higher than the population share are marked with bold types.)

State                           Population share (%)*      Crime against Women share (%)**
UP		16.49			9.65
MP		9.28			6.89
Maharashtra		9.28			6.69
West Bengal		7.54			12.67
Andhra Pradesh		6.99			11.53
Tamil Nadu		5.96			2.94
Gujarat		5.00			3.91
Kerala		2.76			4.47
Punjab		2.29			1.33

*Population statistics at http://indiafacts.in/india-census-2011/census-2011-population-percentage-of-states/

**Crime against Women statistics at http://ncrb.nic.in/CD-CII2012/Statistics2012.pdf