New Delhi: Delhi witnessed an upward trend
in crime graph for the third consecutive year in 2011 as it
registered a four per cent increase compared to the previous
year, prompting police to earmark special measures to combat
street crime besides strengthening anti-terror mechanism.
Though there was a dip in street crime like snatching
and vehicle theft cases, heinous crimes were on the rise in
the capital last year compared to 2010.
The number of cases reported in the capital rose to
53,353 from 51,292 in 2010, riding on an increase in cases of
rape, molestation, attempt to murder and kidnapping.
While 2008 saw a decline in crime in the capital
registering 49,350 cases, the next year saw a rise to 50,251.
The number of murder cases showed a decrease with the
Delhi Police registering 543 murder cases in 2011 as against
565 in 2010. Murder cases were down by 4 per cent and burglary
by 6 per cent.
City Police Commissioner B K Gupta sought to downplay the
rise in the overall numbers saying crime per lakh population
is normal. While 313.06 per lakh was the crime rate in 2010,
it rose to 318.47 per lakh last year.
"It is the perception of what you or me think about crime
in the capital. We can`t really go by the numbers. It is what
you see on the ground, the amount of work put up by the police
force. Crime per lakh calculation gives the correct assessment
of crime rate in a city and everybody does that," Gupta said.
Addressing the Delhi Police annual press conference here,
he said the war against terror would continue to top the
agenda of the force in 2012 along with continued action
against street crime and priority on issues of women`s safety.
In this regard, he said the Crime Branch and Special Cell
of the Delhi Police would be strengthened further with "best
officers" of the force being sent there. Gupta said the force took a series of steps in the year
gone-by to tackle street crime such as identifying crime hot
spots and cracking down on criminals by deploying 155
Emergency Response Vehicles across the city.
Other priority areas for the police will be closer
monitoring of police station functioning, interaction with
RWAs and professional handling of complaints among other
things.
He said 7,000 more criminals were arrested in 2011 as
against 32,627 in 2010, which is an all-time high with picking
up of criminals in all categories of crime like robbery,
snatching, burglary and auto lifting showing an increase.
"Incidents of snatching have come down by 11.67 per cent
in 2011. In 2010, the number of snatchers arrested was 1,592
and in 2011 the number of arrests went to 1,770. Like wise,
more number of auto lifters were arrested in the past year. A
total of 3988 auto lifters have been arrested as against 3258
of 2010," he said.
This is for the first time in three years that the number
of motor vehicle thefts has come down, he said.
Gupta said robberies have also come down by six per
cent in the capital in 2011 with 562 cases being reported as
against the 2010 figure of 599.
However, there has been an increase in cases of dacoity,
attempt to murder, kidnapping for ransom and rape.
A massive crackdown on proclaimed offenders was launched
in 2011 and 4347 criminals were arrested in 2011 alone, which
is 172 per cent increase of 1,597 arrests in 2010.
Gupta said 38 criminals have been arrested while 13 new
proposals have been initiated under the stringent MCOCA.
PTI
