The ‘Crime in India 2015’ statistics released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) last week answers these questions. Apart from national and state-level statistics, NCRB also compiles data for 53 major cities which have a population greater than 10 lakh.
In 2015, 25 per cent of all crimes registered in major Indian cities that fell under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) took place in Delhi, which houses 10 per cent of the total population living in these 53 cities. IPC crimes constitute murder, dacoity, theft, crimes against women, children etc.
Kollam, however, had the highest crime rate. Rate refers to crimes committed per lakh population. In 2015, 1194 crimes were committed in Kollam for a lakh people followed by Delhi, where the crime rate was 1066.
The story is different for crimes under Special Local Laws (SLL). It constitutes crimes related to Gambling Act, Information and Technology Act, Electricity Act etc.
In sharp contrast with IPC crimes, just 0.5 per cent share of all SLL crimes were registered in Delhi. Lucknow, which constitutes 1.8 per cent of the total city population, contributes the highest share – 18.3 per cent – of SLL crimes followed by Ghaziabad which has a 12 per cent share. Lucknow (8717.2), Raipur (7132.1), Agra (7116) and Ghaziabad (7040.4) are the four cities having SLL crime rate greater than 7000 crimes per lakh population.
Note that NCRB numbers have a caveat: they are based on FIRs alone. Crimes for which FIRs were not registered are not accounted for in this data set.
How do various cities compare? The interactive charts the numbers for various crimes for these major 53 cities. Crime rate is a better indicator to compare crimes in cities compared to the absolute number of incidents due to varying population sizes across cities.
Instructions to read the chart: The bubble size is proportional to the number of incidents for that crime. Larger bubble size corresponds to more number of crime incidents. Crime rate is placed on the vertical axis – the higher the placement of the bubble on the vertical axis, the higher is the crime rate.
If you could choose to live anywhere in India, where would you be the safest?
The interactive maps ten cities – five having the highest crime rate (coloured red) and other five having the lowest (coloured blue). It is interesting to note spatial patterns in top and bottom five cities.
(Here too, the size of the bubble corresponds to number of crime incidents)
Delhi, Patna and Jodhpur turn out to be worst for various crimes.
For robbery, criminal trespass/burglary and theft, Delhi had the highest crime rate.
Jodhpur turns to be the most unsafe for women, having the highest crime rate for molestation, rape and cruelty by husband/relatives.
Patna had the highest crime rate for murder, kidnapping/abduction and dowry.
77 per cent of all cases under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act were registered in Mumbai. A total of 24,018 FIRs were filed under the act of which 18,628 were in Mumbai.
