NEW DELHI - A rapist is most likely to be an acquaintance living in the neighbourhood. According to the annual crime report of the Delhi Police, 98 percent of rape victims in the capital knew the accused.

The report found that majority of women in Delhi fell prey to people they trusted - friends, relatives, co-workers and neighbours.

The rape cases, however, recorded a fall of 22 percent in 2008 as the national capital recorded 453 rape cases in 2008 compared to 581 the previous year.

‘In 98 percent cases, the accused were known to the victims and had been interacting with the victims in normal course of life. Of the people arrested on rape charges, 251 (55.41 percent) were neighbours,’ Police Commissioner Y.S Dadwal told reporters at Delhi Police’s annual media briefing.

Besides neighbours, of the people arrested in the 453 rape cases, 37 were relative, 69 were friends and 30 were employers or co-workers.

‘About 21 percent of rape cases were related to elopement while in only 9 (1.99 percent) rape cases, the accused was unknown to the victim,’ Dadwal said.

Describing the socio-economic status of the accused, Dadwal said over 90 percent of the accused were either illiterate or school dropouts and majority of them were below 25 years.

Dadwal said Delhi Police has taken several initiatives to curb crime against women in the capital.

‘We started a special anti obscene calls cell to help the women who are harassed by unknown callers. The deployment of police in plainclothes was increased around women’s colleges and schools to avoid any untoward incident,’ Dadwal said.

‘As many as 89 programmes were launched in various schools and institutions and 13,474 persons have been imparted self-defence training during 2008,’ Dadwal added.