Rape cases down by 20% in 2018, says Delhi Police
After several years, almost all types of crimes — including crimes against women — decreased in 2018, data released by the Delhi Police at its annual Press conference on Wednesday showed.
However, motor vehicle thefts continued to be the area of concern as there was a steep increase in the number of cases reported last year as compared to 2017. Last year, 44,158 motor vehicle theft cases were reported as against 39,084 cases in 2017. More than five vehicles were reported stolen every hour in Delhi in 2018.
Road fatalities were down as well. According to the Delhi Police data, not only have heinous crimes like murder, dacoity and robbery — the prime indicators of the crime situation in a city — gone down significantly but police also succeeded in cracking more cases.
While releasing the report card, Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik said, “Our consistent preventive endeavour led to a healthy reduction in heinous crimes by 11.72 per cent in 2018 while major heads like dacoity, attempt to murder, robbery, rapes and riots saw a decline of 36.11, 16.26, 20.15, 0.78 and 54 per cent respectively as compared to the previous year. Even the incidents of snatching and burglary have come down.”
Five women were raped and eight were molested everyday on an average in the national capital last year, the Delhi Police said. According to data, 2,043 cases of rapes were registered last year as compared to 2,059 cases the year before that and 2,065 cases in 2016.
Police said 2,36,476 IPC cases were filed last year as against 2,23,077 in 2017, showing an increase of 6.01 per cent. Total IPC crime per lakh of population was 1,289 last year as compared to 1,244 crimes during the previous year.
Owing to sustained efforts by districts and specialised units like the Crime Branch and the Special Cell, 91.16 per cent of heinous cases were worked out last year, as against 87 per cent the previous year. The detection in total crimes also improved to 36.53 per cent from 34.6 per cent in 2017.
Last year, 477 cases of murder were registered as compared to 462 cases in 2017. Out of these, 86.16 per cent cases were solved. The incidents of murder per lakh of population have shown a significant decline during the last 14 years, coming down to 2.60 last year from 3.29 in 2004.
Last year, 2,307 cases of robbery were reported as compared to 2,889 cases in the corresponding period of last year. In 2018, there has been reduction in cases pertaining to molestation of women by 3.05 per cent and insult to the modesty of women by 8.37 per cent.
Patnaik also said issues of women’s safety and the menace of street crime demanded a focused strategy. With incidents of terror frequently occurring across the globe, anti-terror measures are also on the top of their list, he added.
Patnaik attributed this to several factors, including online registration of crimes and the lodging of FIRs on complaints filed by email.
Patnaik also said police cyber cells would soon be restructured to handle complaints of computer- and bank related frauds. On the anti-terror front, Patnaik said the Delhi Police not only initiated a crackdown on terrorists but took a plethora of preventive measures given the various incidents reported in other countries.
“In 2018, six terrorist modules were busted and nine terrorists were arrested. The Delhi Police also deployed 30 ‘Parakram’ commando vans mandated to handle terror-related and other serious situations warranting armed response. With four more SWAT teams in 2018 now Delhi Police have five SWAT teams to combat terror outfits in national capital,” he said.
“For better law and order management, one new district, Outer North district was made functional. Our endeavour will be to carry forward the good work of 2018 into 2019 as well,” said the Commissioner.
Patnaik said some of the important factors impacting crimes in Delhi are the high influx of migrant population, the pressures of leading a megacity life that leads to impulsive behaviour, disparities in income and proximity in location of colonies of the affluent and the under-privileged.