NCRB Data: 20% Rise In City Crimes In 2019, But Decline In Heinous Offences

Rape cases in Delhi rose by 3 per cent in 2019 while overall registration of crimes in the city saw a rise of 20% in 2019 in comparison to 2018, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data.

According to a Times of India report, around 2,49,012 crimes were registered in 2018 while in 2019, there were 2,99,475 crimes recorded. However, a decline has been noticed in the overall registration of heinous crimes in the data released.

Robberies decreased from 2,444 cases in 2018 to 1,956 cases in 2019. This shows a decline of around 20 per cent but it can be counted as the highest in numbers when compared on a national level. In the capital, the rate of robbery (the number of crimes per 100,000 population) in 2019 was 9.8 against the all-India rate(2.3).

Rape cases increased at a rate of three per cent from 1,215 cases registered in 2018 to 1,253 cases registered in 2019. However, molestation cases dipped in 2019 with 2,355 cases registered in 2019 against 2,705 cases in 2018.

The NCRB data also reveals that the registration of "crimes agar the state" noticed an increase of 136 per cent in 2019 as compared to 2018. Eleven cases in Delhi under this head were registered in 2018, and the figure surged to 26 cases in the next year. Corruption cases by public servants which fall under the Prevention of Corruption Act also recorded increased three times in 2019.

Under the same act, around six cases were registered in 2018 which rose to 18 in 2019, an increase of over 200 per cent. However, vehicle theft cases dropped with 46,215 cases reported in 2019 compared to the previous year that recorded 46,433 cases. In 2019, the crime rate of these incidents per lakh population was recorded at 231.8 against 17.8 nationally. The murder cases witnessed an increase with 521 cases registered in 2019 while 513 in 2018.

According to the data, a large number of the overall crimes reported were thefts with 1,95,688 cases in 2018 which increased to 2,45,985 cases in 2019. This shows that 80 per cent of the crime comprised of thefts. In 2018, a slight over half the crimes constituted theft cases. The rate of theft in Delhi was 1,233 while it was around 50 nationally. The NCRB data also showed that economic crimes and cybercrimes declined in 2019.

Crimes related to economic wrongdoings slightly declined from around 4,918 in 2018 to 4,889 in 2019 which shows a reduction rate of 0.5 per cent. Maximum cases were registered for forgery and cheating with 4,533 cases reported in 2019.

Cybercrimes also reduced at a rate of 35 per cent with 115 cases registered in 2019 compared to 189 cases in 2018. In most of the cases, the ultimate objective of the criminals was to deceive people, draw out money from them and sometimes taking revenge as well. In 2019, around 17 cases were registered for stalking women online. Cases of human and child trafficking witnessed a slight decline with 93 cases registered in 2019 as compared to 2018 which reported 98 cases.

As many as 536 victims were below the age of 18 out of the 93 reported cases for human and child trafficking. Delhi also reported a custodial death in 2019 where the person was not put on remand. The NCRB that operates under the Union Home Ministry is involved with the job of collecting and analyzing all the crime data that falls under the Indian Penal Code and other local and special laws in India.

Also Read: 87 Rapes Reported Daily, Over 7% Rise in Crimes Against Women In 2019: NCRB Data