Beware of women pick pockets if you are travelling in Delhi Metro. There has been a spate of incidents in which passengers lost their mobile phones, wallets and other valuable items while travelling in metro trains. Police investigations have revealed the involvement of gangs of women pick pockets who have been targeting passengers without being caught.
According to a data compiled by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), around 88 per cent of the total pickpockets in the Delhi Metro are women. Out of the total 555 people who were caught on the suspicion of being pickpockets till June this year, 493 of them were women while 62 were men, said a CISF official.
For the past many months, women thieves have been posing as a menace for the Delhi Police as well as the CISF, said a police officer.
To deal with the menace, Delhi Police along with CISF has identified eight metro stations where maximum cases of theft are reported. These stations are Kashmere Gate, Chandni Chowk, Shahdara, HUDA City Centre, Rajiv Chowk, Kirti Nagar, New Delhi and Tughlakabad stations. Taking advantage of the crowds, these thieves go undetected. Moreover, they carry infants with them to avoid getting caught.
As per the recent data accessed by the Pioneer, out of the 555 people apprehended by the CISF this year, six men and 41 women were caught. Meanwhile, for the month of February, 120 women were apprehended and 8 men were caught on the suspicion of committing pick pocketing. In March, 23 women and 9 men were apprehended, in April 12 women and 11 men were apprehended, in May 129 women were apprehended while 9 men were apprehended and for the month of June, 168 women were caught and 19 men were caught. In all these cases, the suspects were caught and handed over to the Delhi Police.
Apart from the women and men who were apprehended, in their regular operations to stop the pickpockets, a total of 12 people were identified by the CISF in January. In February, 23 people, in March seven, in April 13, in May 20 and in June 27 people were identified. In the time period from January 1 till June this year, a total of 75 pickpockets who are regular offenders inside the metro were identified by the CISF.
According to a senior police officer, in 2016, a total of 3,300 FIRs were registered across 16 police stations affiliated with the Delhi Metro. While in 2017 from January 1 till July 1,6,000 FIRs have been registered.
Talking about the menace of women pick pockets, a senior Delhi Police officer said, "Expansion of metro line is directly proportional to an increase in the number of incidents of crime inside the Delhi Metro premises. Out of these cases, more than 80 per cent account mobile theft cases. Apart from these cases of theft, cases of cyber related crime take place inside the metro stations.”
The major issue which the Delhi Police face is the staff shortage. Coupled with the staff shortage, our staff lacks skills on how to deal with cyber related cases. For instance in the case where a porn clip started playing at a sign board at Rajiv Chowk Metro Station, we had filed an FIR. Yet it became difficult for us to solve the matter.
Meanwhile, on being questioned how the women pick pockets operate, the officer said, "These women come from the slums near Nangloi. Although we do apprehend them but these women are later released since the stolen item is not recovered from their possession."
According to a senior police officer, CISF deals with providing security inside the premises of the metro stations while the Delhi Police deals with the cases of crime.