The Centre for the Sustainable use of Natural and Social Resources (CSNR) and the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) jointly released a study on “State of Crime and Policing in Odisha” undertaken in four areas (Bhubaneswar and Cuttack and Jajpur and Kandhamal districts) here on Thursday to provide actionable data and findings that can spur initiatives to improve policing in the State.

MLA Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, National Law University, Odisha Vice-Chancellor Srikrishna Deva Rao, CSNR secretary Dhirendra Panda and Chandranath Dani attended as guests and released the report.

The report revealed that between January 2017 and May 2018, as many as 24,081 complaints were registered in these four regions. In 2017, as many as 17,082 cases were registered while between January 2018 and May 2018, a total of 6,999 cases were registered.

Of these, the highest number of crimes was registered in Bhubaneswar, followed by Jajpur, Cuttack and Kandhamal. The most frequently registered complaints across the districts were miscellaneous cases (12,418), theft (3,761), motor-vehicle (MV) accidents (2,773) and swindling (1,208).

As per the report, the highest number of murder and attempt-to-murder cases together was registered in the Malgodown police station (24) in Cuttack followed by Baliguda PS (23) in Kandhamal, Barang PS (20) in Cuttack and Jajpur Sadar (20) in Jajpur.

While the highest number of dacoity, robbery, burglary and theft cases together were registered in Capital PS (344) in Bhubaneswar followed by Khandagiri PS (263) and Saheed Nagar PS (263) in Bhubaneswar. The highest number of swindling cases were registered in Badagada PS (105) followed by Saheed Nagar PS (81) and Capital PS (74).

The highest number of riot cases were registered in Capital PS (46) followed by Jatni PS (19) and Chandrasekharpur (15). While in rape cases, the highest number was registered in Panikoili PS (36) in Jajpur followed by Mahila Bhubaneswar PS (35) and Chandrasekharpur PS (27).

Coming to crimes against women, Bhubaneswar registered the highest number of complaints of kidnapping (79), dowry-related offences (70) and rapes (61), followed by Jajpur and Kandhamal.

In 2017, a total of 1,875 crimes against women were registered in the four regions with the highest number under the Dowry Prohibition Act (600), followed by rapes (432) and kidnapping (367).

The dowry-related offences were the highest in Jajpur (207), followed by Bhubaneswar (184). Cases of rape and kidnapping were most registered in Bhubaneswar (171), followed by Jajpur (131) and Bhubaneswar (153) and Jajpur (74), respectively.

Between January 2018 and May 2018, a total of 692 crimes against women were registered in the four regions with the highest number of kidnapping (183), dowry-related offences (178) and rapes (159).

The organisations have recommended to the State police to recruit 33 per cent women, setting up of separate cells and toilets for women, display of the Supreme Court guidelines on arrest and installation of CCTVs in every police station.