India's Mumbai, Kohima safest for women; Patna, Kolkata unsafe

NEW DELHI, Aug 28: Kohima, Visakhapatnam, Bhubaneswar, Aizawl, Gangtok, Itanagar and Mumbai have emerged as the safest cities in the country for women, while Patna, Jaipur, Faridabad, Delhi, Kolkata, Srinagar and Ranchi were ranked the lowest, according to the National Annual Report & Index on Women's Safety (NARI) 2025. 

The nationwide index released on Thursday, based on a survey of 12,770 women across 31 cities, placed the national safety score at 65 per cent, categorising cities as "much above," "above," "at," "below" or "much below" this benchmark. Kohima and other top-ranked cities were associated with stronger gender equity, civic participation, policing and women-friendly infrastructure. 

At the other end of the spectrum, cities like Patna and Jaipur fared poorly due to weak institutional responsiveness, patriarchal norms and gaps in urban infrastructure. "Kohima, Vishakhapatnam, Bhubaneswar, Aizawl, Gangtok, Itanagar, Mumbai lead national safety rankings, often correlating with higher gender equity, infrastructure, policing, or civic participation, while Ranchi, Srinagar, Kolkata, Delhi, Faridabad, Patna, and Jaipur scored lowest, correlating with poorer infrastructure, patriarchal norms, or weaker institutional responsiveness," the report said.

Overall, six in ten women surveyed felt "safe" in their city, but 40 per cent still considered themselves "not so safe" or "unsafe." via rediff.com