New Delhi, The Delhi Police might be the best in the country in terms of staffing, infrastructure and use of budget, but when it comes to controlling crime, all that fade into disappointment.
According to the Crime in India-2017 report, released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), here on Monday, Delhi tops the crime chart.
According to the NCRB data, number of crimes increased 11 per cent in Delhi in 2017 compared with 2016, earning it the dubious distinction of the crime capital of the country.
According to reports, Delhi accounts for 4.9 per cent of crimes recorded in India. In 2017, Delhi recorded more than 2,32,000 incidents of crime, which was 4.9 per cent of the total offences recorded in the country.
As per the NCRB data, over 50,00,000 cases of cognisable crimes were registered across the country in 2017, an increase of 200,000 over 2016. However, number of murders declined 5.9 per cent in 2017 compared with 2016.
The cases of kidnapping for ransom increased by over 7,000 in 2017. The number of cyber crime increased significantly to 21,796 in 2017 from 12,137 in 2016.
On the spurt in crime in Delhi, Mandeep Singh Randhawa, Delhi Commissioner of Police and spokesman, refused to agree and told IANS, “It’s not true. There is a decline in the incidents of murder in 2017. As we have developed a system of online registration of crime, it’s natural that more cases will be registered in Delhi.”
“The rise in crime in Delhi may be because of free registration of FIRs. But the rise in cases of snatching is alarming,” former Director of Intelligence Bureau Arun Bhagat told IANS.
Did the increase in crime reflect slackness of the Delhi Police?. Bhagat said, “These days criminals have become smart. They know how system works. We send them to jails, and they manage to get bails.”
Former Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar told IANS, “Look at Haryana. Snatchers can’t get bail there. In Delhi, it’ easy to get bail. The rising population is also, to some extent, responsible for the spurt in crime.”
