Delhi is India’s crime capital, latest govt data shows

New Delhi: Is Delhi a safe place to live? The unprecedented increase in crime, registered in the national capital, suggests that the city is gradually turning into Chicago, with cases of heinous crimes like rape and murder, almost double and triple of Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Bengaluru.

The new data released by the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) on Monday, reveals that in terms of overall registration of crime under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) the percentage share of Delhi is over 40 among 19 metros that also includes Lucknow, Patna and Kanpur.

The NCRB released data is for the year 2017. Usually, it takes more than a year to collect and compile the figures from the remotest of places across all the 36 states and Union Territories of India.

In crimes against women, the situation seems to be worse in Delhi when its latest figures were compared with Mumbai or Kolkata. As per NCRB data, 1,168 cases of rape were registered in Delhi in 2017 where as in Mumbai only 287 cases were reported during the same year. Jaipur (210) takes the third slot while Indore with 206 cases comes at number 4. Kolkata with 15 and Coimbatore with not a single case of rape reported during 2017, seems to be more safer cities for women to live.

The NCRB has added some new categories like stalking and voyeurism. In stalking, Delhi has registered 472 cases followed by Mumbai (383) and Pune (127). Many women in Delhi were subject to being recorded while undressing in the bathroom or change rooms located in shops and malls. Such cases registered under voyeurism, were reported highest in Mumbai (39) while Delhi at 38 was not far behind in such new type of crimes where modesty of a female is outraged by using electronic gadgets like hidden cameras.

In collection of crime data, murder usually remains an important category as incidents related to homicide can hardly be watered down by the police. Delhi has dubious distinction of topping this category too.

The NCRB data on murder discloses that Delhi with 400 cases leads the homicide table. Bengaluru (235) is second and Patna (183) figures third on the list. Mumbai which earlier was seen as a crime capital, managed to lower its crime rate, and is placed at number 5 with only 127 cases of murder being registered in 2017.

Auto lifting, which includes theft of two wheelers, cars and commercial vehicles appears to be the most prevailing organised crime in Delhi.

With 37,948 vehicles being stolen in national capital, a significant increase in recent years, Delhi tops the list followed by Bengaluru (6,155), Jaipur (4,900), Pune (3,169), Lucknow (3,101) and Mumbai (3,103). Kozhikode(113) and Kochi(121) — both in Kerala, can be seen as Metros where auto-theft is almost insignificant in terms of numbers.

Comparing 2017’s total crime figures with 2016 and 2015, Delhi seems to witness the highest increase.

In 2015, Delhi registered 173,947 criminal cases under IPC while in 2017, the total number of FIRs registered were 2,13,141. Bengaluru with 47,173 cases registered in 2017, in comparison to 35,576 in 2015, is the second most crime-prone city in India. And with only 3,087 cases registered in 2017, Coimbatore seems to be the safest metro in the country.

Published on: Oct 22, 2019 at 10:56 IST

IANS