Only one in four women expressed confidence that authorities would take effective action on their safety complaints
A new and comprehensive study on women’s safety in Indian cities has revealed an alarming truth: around 40% of women feel “not so safe” or “unsafe”. The findings, released in the inaugural National Annual Report and Index on Women’s Safety (NARI 2025), provide a stark look into the daily realities faced by women across the country.
The report, a collaborative effort by the Group of Intellectuals and Academicians (GIA), Pvalue Analytics, The NorthCap University, and Jindal Global Law School, is based on a survey of 12,770 women across 31 cities in all states. It goes beyond traditional crime statistics, which often fail to capture the reality of underreported harassment. NARI 2025’s key findings highlight a “dark figure” of crime, with the report noting that only one in three women who face harassment actually report it to authorities. This means that official crime records from bodies like the NCRB miss the vast majority of incidents.
The index ranked cities based on various safety metrics, revealing a significant disparity. Cities like Kohima, Vishakhapatnam, Bhubaneswar, and Mumbai were identified as the safest, correlating with factors such as stronger gender equity, improved infrastructure, and more effective policing. In contrast, cities like Ranchi, Srinagar, Kolkata, Delhi, and Patna ranked at the bottom, often linked to inadequate public infrastructure, weak institutional responsiveness, and prevalent patriarchal norms.
Safety perceptions also varied dramatically depending on the time of day. While 86% of women felt safe in educational institutions during daylight hours, that sense of security plummeted at night, particularly on public transport and in recreational areas. The report also pointed to significant institutional gaps: only one in four women expressed confidence that authorities would take effective action on their safety complaints, and a concerning 53% were unaware whether their workplaces had a Prevention of Sexual Harassment (POSH) policy in place.
