Mumbai, Kohima Ranked Safest for Women; Patna, Jaipur, Delhi Least Safe
National Women Safety Index 2025 highlights stark disparities in safety across 31 cities…..
New Delhi, India – The National Annual Report & Index on Women’s Safety (NARI) 2025 has identified Mumbai, Kohima, Visakhapatnam, Bhubaneswar, Aizawl, Gangtok, and Itanagar as the safest cities for women in India, while Patna, Jaipur, Faridabad, Delhi, Kolkata, Srinagar, and Ranchi were ranked the least safe.
The nationwide survey, covering 12,770 women across 31 cities, placed the national safety score at 65 per cent, categorizing cities as “much above,” “above,” “below,” or “much below” the benchmark.
Top-ranked cities were noted for strong gender equity, women-friendly infrastructure, effective policing, and higher civic participation, whereas cities at the bottom suffered from weak institutional responsiveness, patriarchal norms, and gaps in urban infrastructure, the report stated.
According to the study, while six in ten women felt safe in their cities, 40 per cent reported feeling “not so safe” or “unsafe”, particularly in public spaces at night and on public transport. Educational institutions were considered 86% safe during daytime, but safety concerns increased significantly at night or off-campus.
The report revealed gaps in workplace safety as well: only about half of the women were aware of POSH (Prevention of Sexual Harassment) policies, though those with such policies rated them as generally effective. Only one-fourth of women trusted authorities to act effectively on safety complaints.
Harassment in public spaces affected 7% of women in 2024, rising to 14% among women under 24. The most common locations were neighborhoods (38%) and public transport (29%), but only one in three victims reported incidents.
The NARI report emphasized that official crime data underrepresents women’s experiences, as two out of three harassment incidents go unreported, underscoring the need for integrating perception-based surveys with crime statistics.
NCW Chairperson Vijaya Rahatkar said, “Safety is not merely a law-and-order issue; it affects every aspect of a woman’s life, including education, health, work opportunities, and freedom of movement. When women feel unsafe, they limit themselves, which impacts national development.”
