Kathmandu, October 7 As many as 80 girls and women were raped in the last three months, according to a media monitoring report released by Sancharika Samuha Nepal. The organisation had monitored 14 national dailies including The Himalayan Times from June 14 to September 16. According to a press statement issued by SSN today, the cases of violence against women were classified as rape, murder, health rights violation, domestic violence, sexual harassment/torture, dowry-related violence and witchcraft accusation. Among the rape victims, six victims were below the age of five; 21 of them between six and 10 years of age; 25 between 11 and 15 years of age; 12 between 16 and 20 years of age; and six between 21 and 50 years of age. Four rape victims were above 51 years of age while the age of six victims was not mentioned. Among the victims, six were differently-abled and one was a new mother. Of the perpetrators, seven were family members, 29 were neighbours, two were teachers, and 42 were ‘others’. The perpetrators of the rape cases were between 11 and 65 years of age. An alarming 11 cases of gang rape have been reported in the period. In terms of development region, Central Development Region registered 31 rape cases, the highest number; while per district, Banke had the highest number of cases with eight such cases. Similarly, 36 women and girls were murdered in the three months. Amongst the murder victims, eight between one and 15 years of age; 15 between 16 and 40 years of age; and eight were above 40 years. The age of five of the victims was not mentioned. In recent times, rape cases are on the rise, where victims are mostly minors, single women, disabled females and women whose husbands work abroad. As many as 24 were murdered by their family members and among them too 13 were murdered by their husbands. Likewise, two were murdered by their neighbours and 10 by some other people. As per geographical division of murder cases, Western Development Region registered the highest 11 cases, while Jhapa topped the list of districts with four such cases. Likewise, 14 women died due to delivery complications and nine women died at health centres due to health workers’ negligence. Furthermore, five women died at home due to lack of timely treatment and one woman lost her life due to post-abortion infection at the hospital. Monitoring has shown that women are not safe at home too. It has been known that they are murdered for minor issues, raped by kins and deprived of basic health rights. A woman committed suicide due to physical and mental torture by her husband, while nine women were severely beaten and one pregnant woman was thrown out of her home after being thrashed by her husband and in-laws. Similarly, 12 women were sexually harassed, one woman was murdered after being accused of witchcraft and seven were severely beaten. One woman was murdered and three were physically and mentally tortured over dowry-related disputes. According to police, the possible factors contributing to the sharp increase in rape cases could be the easy availability of adult films, alcohol consumption and weak law.