The Capital has shown a declining trend in heinous crimes but e-FIR registration of theft and other non-heinous crimes has increased significantly, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Hansraj Gangaram Ahir informed the Rajya Sabha.
Mr. Ahir, in a written reply in the Upper House on February 6, said that a number of measures have been taken for reporting and registering criminal cases, including e-FIR registration for theft of vehicles and other things, which may have contributed to the rise in number of cases registered in the NCT of Delhi.
However, according to statistics, crime in Delhi under some heads has shown a declining trend, Mr. Ahir added.
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On being asked about snatching cases where victims are women and steps being taken by the government to make the police administration more active, Mr. Ahir said crime statistics of the last three years show that incidents of snatching from women in broad daylight (6 a.m. to 6 p.m.) reported to the police have been on the decline.
He added that various measures are being taken by the police to control crimes. These include dynamic identification of crime-prone areas and deployment of police resources such as pickets, foot patrolling, PCR vans and Emergency Response Vehicles, he said.
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Deputy Commissioner of Police (Delhi) Madhur Verma said the police have worked to make registration of crimes hassle-free. “We always follow basic policing and focus on curbing street crimes and those where weapons have been used. We recently conducted a massive drive to identify bad characters in each police station area and keep a tab on them,” said Mr. Verma.
Speaking on reasons for poor percentage of recovery in theft cases, he said, as per Delhi Police data, in 2018, motor vehicle thefts accounted for around 19% of the total Indian Penal Code cases and in around 12% cases, stolen motor vehicles were found registered in other States.