Porn, alcohol and lack of control in families: Madhya Pradesh DGP on increase in rapes; says police alone can’t curb rapes

Madhya Pradesh Director General of Police (DGP) Kailash Makwana said on Sunday (June 29, 2025) that the police force alone cannot curb rape incidents while claiming that various other factors, like pornography, internet and alcohol, are causing a decline in morality in society, leading to an increase in cases of sexual assault.

Mr. Makwana made the remarks after holding a review meeting for Simhastha Kumbh Mela, slated to be held in 2028, with top officers in Ujjain. He went on to claim that earlier children used to listen to parents and teachers, and “vulgarity is now being served on the internet”.

“The way pornography is being served on the internet, the minds of children are getting distorted. There are many reasons behind the increasing incidents of rape. I think it includes internet, mobile phones, availability of pornographic material and alcohol. Today, through mobile phones, someone is connecting from somewhere to someone else. There are many such reasons for the decline of morality in society. It is not possible for police alone to deal with it,” the DGP said, responding to questions from reporters.

Mr. Makwana added, “Today, no one is able to keep an eye on each other in a house. Earlier, children used to obey teachers and parents and there was a shame of [elders’] sight but now many limits have broken and the way obscene content is being served on the internet since childhood, it is definitely distorting their (children’s) minds. This is the reason why these incidents have increased.”

The State has seen a rise in the cases of sexual assault in recent years, with the Government informing the State Assembly that 7,294 rape cases were reported in 2024 with an average of about 20 cases per day across Madhya Pradesh.

The figures showed a more than 19% increase from 6,134 cases of rape in 2020, the Government had said during the last Budget session in March.

The Home Department statistics, presented in response to a question from Congress MLA Pankaj Upadhyay, had also showed an increase in the rape cases in tribal regions, with Jhabua, a community-dominated district, seeing an increase rate of 168 percent, highest in the State.

Over the last five years, the cases from the Scheduled Tribe (ST) community saw a 26% rise, 24% from general categories, 20% among the Other Backward Classes (OBCs), and 10% from Scheduled Castes (SCs), the data showed.