New Delhi, Jan 21 (IANS) There has been a rise in crimes against women in India, with the national capital recording nearly 25 percent of all rape cases, reveals data by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) for the year 2009.

As compared to 2008, there was a rise of 4.1 percent in the number of crimes against women in the country. In 2008, a total of 195,856 cases were reported. This rose to 203,804 in 2009.

Crimes against women include rape, kidnapping and abduction, dowry death, torture, molestation, sexual harassment, importation of girls, immoral traffic and indecent representation of women.

Delhi accounted for nearly a quarter of all rape cases registered in the country. According to the NCRB, 23.8 percent of all rape cases were registered here.

Also, 38.9 percent of kidnapping and abduction cases, 15.2 percent of dowry deaths and 14.1 percent of molestation cases among 35 cities in India have been reported in Delhi.

While the total number of cases of crimes against women had seen a rise in 2009, there was a drop in certain cases. For instance, as compared to 2008, in 2009 there was a drop of three percent in rape cases, 4.2 percent in molestation cases, 9.9 percent in sexual harassment cases and 17.6 percent in indecent representation of women.