Delhi sees 40% rise in rape and harassment cases

Cases of rape and harassment of women in the national capital have increased by around 40 per cent in the first five-and-half months this year as compared to the corresponding period last year, while the total number of heinous crimes has gone down marginally, officials said on Tuesday.

According to data shared by them, cases of snatching have increased by 46 per cent in the period between January and June 15 as compared to the same duration last year.

According to the data, 2,315 cases of heinous crime, which includes dacoity, murder, attempt to murder, robbery, riot, kidnapping for ransom and rape, have been reported this time as compared to 2,436 last year.

Cases of murder, riot and kidnapping for ransom have reduced, while instances of dacoity, attempt to murder, robbery and rape have increased, they said.

A senior police officer said that last year, there was a complete lockdown due to which less number of cases reported. However, this year, there was no such nationwide strict lockdown and the data has increased as more people are filing complaints now online and more cases are being reported.

Between January 1 and June 15, the Delhi Police recorded 2,315 cases of heinous crimes -- seven of dacoity, 196 of murder, 295 of attempt to murder, 942 of robbery, 35 of riot, seven of kidnapping for ransom, and 833 of rape.

In the corresponding period last year, Delhi saw four cases of dacoity, 226 of murder, 236 of attempt to murder, 701 of robbery, 681 of riot eight of kidnapping for ransom, and 580 of rape.

The cases of rape have gone up by about 43 per cent this year, the officials said.

The cases of outraging modesty of women have increased by 39 per cent. This year, 1,022 such cases were registered as compared to 735 during the same period last year, it said.

The number of cases of insult to the modesty of women, kidnapping of women, abduction of women, cruelty by husband and in-laws and dowry death stand at 197, 1,580, 159, 1,712 and 56, respectively, it said.

However, last year the number of cases for the same was 146, 1,026, 46, 824 and 47 respectively, it said.

There is a huge margin in the number of cases of riot because communal clashes had broken out in northeast Delhi on February 24, 2020, after violence between the Citizenship (Amendment) Act supporters and its protesters spiralled out of control, leaving at least 53 people dead and over 700 injured.

The number of non-heinous crime, including snatching, hurt burglary, motor vehicle theft, house theft, have increased by over eight per cent.

In 2021, 1,20,980 cases of non-heinous crime have been reported, while the number was 1,11,419 in 2020, it said.
There were 1,217 more cases of snatching reported in 2021 as compared to last year. The data showed that 3,829 cases of snatching were reported in 2021 as compared to 2,612 in last year.

Among the total 1,20,980 cases, the number cases of hurt, burglary, motor vehicle theft and house theft stand at 493, 1,173, 15,667 and 938 respectively.

Meanwhile, senior Indian Police Service officer Balaji Srivastava took additional charge as the commissioner of the Delhi Police on Wednesday after the retirement of incumbent S N Shrivastava.

Soon after taking charge, Srivastava had held an agenda-setting meeting with the top police brass at the police headquarters. He discussed the priority areas and the road map for the Delhi Police in the coming days.

Street domination to curb street crime, direct public interface at the district-level for grievance redressal, ensuring women safety, welfare of the personnel and initiating anti-terror measures are among the priority areas, police had said.

Srivastava also laid emphasis on the implementation of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority guidelines to ensure Covid-appropriate behaviour among all in letter and spirit, the officials had said.

The number of cases of fatal accident, other theft, simple accident and other Indian Penal Code stand at 449, 63,536, 1,497 and 30,051, respectively, it added.

In the last week of March 2020, a nationwide lockdown was imposed in view of the COVID-19 situation across the country.