The national Capital is officially the most unsafe city for women in India. According to the data released by National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) on Thursday, Delhi has reported the maximum number of rape cases among 19 major cities at 40 per cent, besides the highest crimes against women rate in 2016.
Delhi reported 33 per cent (13,803 cases out of total 41,761 cases in 19 cities) of total crimes against women followed by Mumbai at 12.3 per cent (5,128 cases) among the 19 cities with population above two million.
The national Capital also reported nearly 29 per cent of cruelty by husband and his relatives and dowry deaths, the NCRB data said.
However, Delhi Police officials claimed that proactive policing and several steps to prevent crime against women have resulted in less number of such cases being registered across the city.
“With respect to the data on crime against women, there has been a 0.8 per cent decline in the number of rape cases registered in Delhi from November 15 last year till November 15 this year. Till November 15 in 2016, 1,910 cases of rape were registered while till November 15 in 2017, 1,894 cases have been registered. Under Section 354 IPC (assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty), till November 15 in the previous year, 3,775 cases have been registered while in 2016 3,044 cases have been filed. This indicates that there is a decline of 19.36 per cent in the
registration of cases”, Special Commissioner of Police and chief spokesperson of Delhi Police said.
“Under Section 509 of the Indian Penal Code (Insult to Modesty of women), 876 cases were registered from January 1 till November 15 in 2016.
While in the same period in 2017, 578 cases have been lodged. This indicates a decline of 34.01 per cent. However, cases of kidnapping of women in the national Capital have gone up by up to 2.45 per cent. Till November 15 last year, 3,053 cases have been registered while in 2017 till November 15, 3128 cases had been lodged,” Pathak added.
“There is free and fair registration in Delhi and many cases of kidnapping turn out to be cases of elopement,” Pathak added.
A similar decline in the number of cases is evident in the abduction of women. Till November 15 last year, 412 cases have been registered while in the same time period, 292 cases have been filed. This indicates that there has been a decline of 29.12 per cent in the registration of cases, he added.
The national Capital has got the dubious distinction of topping the list in cases of murder, kidnapping and abduction, juveniles in conflict and economic offences.
Delhi accounted for 38.8 per cent of total IPC crime reported in 19 cities followed by Bengaluru (8.9 per cent) and Mumbai 7.7 per cent.
The national Capital recorded the highest crime rate 182.1 compared to the national average of 77.2.
Chennai has reported highest number of cases of Special and local laws (Sll) crimes, accounting for 32.9 per cent of total reported cases among the 19 cities, followed by Kochi (12.9 per cent) and Surat (12.6 per cent) during 2016.
Delhi reported the highest number of kidnapping and abduction 5,453 cases (48.3 per cent) followed by Mumbai with 1,876 cases (16.6 per cent) and Bengaluru 879 cases 7.8 per cent during 2016.
The city reported highest number of murder - 479 out of 2,194 cases- (21.8 per cent) followed by Bengaluru 10.4 per cent (229 cases) and Patna 8.9 per cent (195 cases). There has been a sharp decline in heinous heads category by 24 per cent as compared to the corresponding period, Pathak claimed.
The highest number of cases at 35.6 per cent (2,368 cases out of 6,645) of Juveniles in conflict with the law were reported in Delhi among the 19 cities during 2016.
Delhi has reported the maximum number of cases under economic offences -- 5,942 cases (19.3 per cent) followed by Jaipur (4,742 cases) and Mumbai (4,191 cases) accounting for 15.4 per cent and 13.6 per cent respectively during 2016. While in cyber crimes, Mumbai reported the highest number of cases - 980 (23.5 per cent) out of 4,172 cases in 19 major cities in 2016.
