Smaller cities, not metros, seeing most crimes

Kochi leads the rest of India in crimes, Faisal Kidwai discovers, scrutinising the National Crime Research Bureau's records.

Another city that saw a decline in cognisable offences was Hyderabad, which reported about 2,000 fewer crimes in 2011 than in 2006.

The city that witnessed the biggest jump in cases was Kochi, where cognisable offences increased from 5,699 in 2006 to 34,658 in 2011.

That Delhi leads in the murder rate is not surprising, but what is surprising is that smaller cities like Kanpur and Pune have such high number of murder cases.

If we compare the population of Delhi to cities like Kanpur and Agra, it is clear Delhi has a lower rate of murder than other smaller cities.

A city like Jabalpur reported 100 cases of rape in 2011 alone, while Agra, a city that seems to find its way in the top 10 in virtually every crime, saw more than 60 cases of rape.

Delhi and Mumbai occupy the top two slots, but those cities have much bigger populations than cities like Indore and Bhopal.

Seven cities from North India occupy the top 10 positions when it comes to kidnapping and abduction of women and girls, according to the National Crime Research Bureau.

Bengaluru, Ahmedabad and Mumbai are the only non-North Indian cities that have high cases of kidnapping and abduction.

Stealing of cars is one of the biggest crimes all across the world and it ranks high in India, too.

Agra, which figures on all the four lists, makes it to the top 10 in auto theft, too.