The data released by National Crime Records Bureau says that Delhi has topped the charts among 19 metropolitan cities in the country with 38.8 % of the total crime reported under the Indian Penal Code in 2016.
Murder, kidnapping, abduction, crime against women, economic offences, offence against property are a few heads where Delhi stands at number one.
According to the data, Delhi reported the highest number of murders committed at 479 of the total 2,194 cases - with a marginal increase of 3.2% from last year - followed by Bengaluru with 229 cases and Patna with 195 cases. The motive behind most of the murders was found to be personal enmity, personal gain or property dispute.
With 5,453 cases of kidnapping and abduction, Delhi beat Mumbai and Bengaluru who stood at 1,876 and 879 cases respectively. However, the number of cases reported have come down by 10.6 % from 2015.
Crime against women remained highest in the Capital with Delhi reporting 33 % of the total cases registered. Mostly under the head ‘Cruelty by husband or his relatives’, ‘Assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty, and ‘kidnapping and abduction’, Delhi reported a total of 13,803 cases followed by Mumbai reporting 5,128 cases. The number of rapes reported remained at an alarming high of nearly 2,000 in the Capital.
Though reported crime against children has come down from 8,035 cases to 7392 in 2016, Delhi is at the top under this head. Next in line is Mumbai at 3,400 and Bengaluru at 1,333. Most of the case reported were under for kidnapping and abduction and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) and child rape.
On the other hand, maximum number of juveniles were apprehended in the Capital than in any other city. A total of 9,341 juveniles were apprehended in 6,645 cases and were in the age group of 16-18. In fact, crime committed by juveniles has increased by 19.5 % from last year. In 2015, the number of incidents committed by minors was 1,981 as compared to 2,368 in 2016.
The Capital remains at the top when it comes to economic offences as well with a total of 5942 cases reported. However it has come down by 7 % from 6396 in 2015 to 5942 in 2016. Of the four major offences including criminal breach of trust, cheating, forgery, and counterfeiting, most number of cases were reported under cheating.
Interestingly, cybercrime in Delhi has come down from 169 in 2015 to 90 the next year.
In 2016, most number of offences against property were also reported in Delhi at 65% of the total followed by Bengaluru and Mumbai accounting for 5.4% and 5.1%. The data said that most of the offences against property were auto thefts of which Delhi cases has reported the maximum number (37,147).
