Crime: India
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2012: Crime in India's 5 biggest cities
Delhi’s dubious distinction: Maximum murders
NCRB Report For 2012 Reveals That 408 People, Double The Figure In Mumbai, Murdered In City
Dwaipayan Ghosh TNN 2013/06/14
New Delhi: The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report for 2012 has confirmed the notion that it is still some time before Delhi can shed its ‘crime capital’ tag. Though the city showed some promise—doing much better than earlier years in containing street crime—the total number of grievous cases registered last year show that only robust policing can bring down crime. An analysis with other cities perhaps explains Delhi’s own set of problems.
According to the NCRB data, 408 murders took place in Delhi last year—highest among 88 cities—while there were only 215 murders in Mumbai, 180 in Chennai and 85 in Kolkata. However, Delhi Police claimed street crime was down, pointing out that Mumbai registered 29 dacoity and 1131 robbery cases while the capital recorded just 13 dacoity and 522 robberies in the same time. Similarly, though there were 369 instances of attempt to murder in the city —higher than 170 registered in Mumbai and 154 in Kolkata—it is Bangalore with 454 which tops the city table.
Certain crimes in Delhi are at least 10 times more than the other cities. Take kidnapping and abduction cases. While Delhi has registered 3274 registered cases, the next city to even come near this figure is Bangalore with 532 cases. Delhi Police though dismiss this as a “wrong analysis”. An officer explained: “We register a kidnapping case when any minor girl goes missing under directions of the court. Show me another city which does this.”
An interesting figure highlighted in the NCRB data is that a total of 20,99,170 complaints were received in Delhi in writing and on phone, including helplines, the most important one being 100. Yet, only a fraction, 60,397, was converted into cases. The corresponding figure for Maharashtra is 94,3994 and about 3,33,680 were turned into complaints.
Cops say NCRB has “confused” normal PCR calls with genuine distress calls. “Our PCR nerve centre receives over 50,000 calls a day. Will you count complaint of power failure or information sought on DTC routes as a genuine complaint?” asked a bemused cop. But then again, while the Maharashtra police took suo moto cognizance in 77,3376 cases, Delhi Police took suo moto cognizance in 13,318 cases.
In a reply to a question by BJP MLA Sahib Singh Chauhan (No. 237) about the total number of incidents of kidnapping, rape and dacoity in the city in the past 10 years, the Delhi government had stated that “bad and perfunctory investigation” along with “noncollection of scientific evidence during the course of investigation” were reasons behind the low conviction rate (around 30 per cent) in these heinous crimes.
“The large expansion of new colonies like Dwarka and Rohini and thousands of unplanned colonies is a critical crimogenic factor, particularly in respect of street crimes like robberies and snatching,” the written answer had said. The fact that most murders in the past three years have been reported from the border districts (268 of 521), the observation makes sense.
The cops list a number of new initiatives, including. a web-based information system for history-sheeters and a fingerprint bank of over 2.25 lakh criminals.
Violent crimes
Violent crimes highest in UP
In violent crimes, UP tops list: National Crime Research Bureau
Isha Jain, TNN | Jun 22, 2013
[http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/In-violent-crimes-UP-tops-list-National-Crime-Research-Bureau/articleshow/20717804.cms The Times of India ] LUCKNOW: The annual report of National Crime Research Bureau (NCRB) has revealed that Uttar Pradesh tops the list of states in terms of murders. Also, UP has earned the credit for maximum number of kidnappings, dowry related deaths and robberies in the year 2012. (Editor: UP is the most populous state of India. Hence absolute numbers do not convey the true picture. A better yardstick would be ‘violent crimes per 1,000 of population.’)
Not only this, but UP has for the third consecutive year retained its top position in violent crimes. The state reported a total of 33,824 incidents in 2012. This included 4,966 murders, 8,878 kidnappings, 3,159 robberies, 2,244 dowry deaths along with other major crimes, according to NCRB. In 2010, UP accorded 27,225 cases of violent crimes followed by 32,987 in 2011.
NCRB data revealed that it is not [a] specific age group which is committing crimes. Rather, people from all age groups are indulging in it. In 2012 alone, 10.7% of the total crimes were committed by people of above 50 years. Those between 18-30 years committed 46% crime. As high as 15% of the total offenders were women.
Social activists say that present situation of increasing crime is worrisome. "There is no stringent punishment for the criminals. As a result, they walk freely with head high on the streets," said an activist.
