Delhi Police have booked over 17,400 first-time offenders in three districts and two units of the national capital this year till September 15.

In a reply to RTI, the Delhi Police said that a total of 17,404 people were booked for the first time in North Delhi, Rohini, West Delhi Railway and Delhi Metro. According to official data, 3,486 people were booked for the first time in North Delhi, 5,089 people were booked for the first time in Rohini, 8,123 in the west district, 420 in Delhi Metro and 286 in Railways.

The police said that more than 1.50 lakh people were nabbed in 2023 who were first-time offenders and over 1.49 lakh people were nabbed in 2022.

“The first-time offenders usually begin with minor offenses like selling liquor, drugs, fights and other petty crimes. However, these crimes can escalate to more serious crimes in many cases,” a senior police officer said.

"We have interrogated many first-time offenders who are either hired by criminal gangs or are influenced by movies where they see the lavish lifestyle of criminals. Such first-time offenders also want to lead sumptuous lives," the officer added.

He said that many youths are also involved in cyber crimes and they harass people by making fake IDs. “Police teams arrested many youths, who are first-time offenders and they were lured into cyber criminal gangs after looking at the lifestyle the gang members are leading,” the officer stated.

Many young men start defrauding people just to purchase super-bikes, cars and expensive shoes. Such people are totally unaware that police work round the clock to nab them and put them behind the bars, said the officer. Another police officer said that parenting is an important factor.