National capital saw 12% rise in crime in 2017: Delhi Police

The number of crimes in Delhi under all the major heads have shown a declining trend in 2017.

New Delhi: A total of 2,23,075 cases of crime were reported in the national capital in 2017, up from 1,99,110 in 2016 - a 12 percent rise, according to Delhi Police's annual report released on Thursday.

Speaking to the media at the Delhi Police's annual press conference, Commissioner of Delhi Police Amulya Patnaik said, "Number of crimes in Delhi under all the major heads have shown a declining trend except 6 percent increase in motor vehicle thefts and 47 percent rise in other theft cases, clearly reflecting fairness of registration of such offences."

"In all, 2,23,075 cases were registered under the provisions of Indian Penal Code (IPC) during the year, as against 1,99,110 in 2016. The yardstick of crime per lakh of population, which is used worldwide to compare crime rate, has been applied. Total crimes per lakh of population during the year were 1,263 in comparison to 1,137 in 2016," Patnaik said.

Citing reasons for an increase in the number of crimes, Patnaik said mandatory registration of FIRs, including those for missing children, as per directions of the Supreme Court, added to the list.

"Besides, the Delhi Police also launched mobile and web applications through which public can easily lodge FIRs online for the theft of motor vehicles and other such properties without visiting police stations."

As per the Delhi Police report, over the last five years, the number of crime cases has seen an increase every subsequent year, i.e it was 460.75 for every per lakh population in 2013, 881.04 in 2014, 1,058.68 in 2015, 1,137.21 in 2016 and 1,263.43 in 2017.

However, as per the date in the report, fewer crimes of serious nature took place in 2017 as compared to the previous year, the report suggests.

It shows that 45 dacoities took place in 2016, which came down to 36 in 2017; similarly, as against 501 murder cases in 2016, 462 were reported in 2017; 501 attempt to murder cases were filed in 2016, which were 462 the next year; robbery 4,585 in 2016 and 2,833 in 2017; riots cases were 79 in 2016, which lowered to 50 in 2017; as against 22 cases of kidnapping for ransom 2016, 2017 saw only 14; and 2,064 rape cases were registered in 2016 which came down to 2,049 in 2017.

The total number of heinous crimes reported in 2016 was 7,910, which was 6,057 in 2017, shows the report, while 13,342 burglary cases were reported in 2016, which were 9,546 in 2017.