Lower Crime Rates Noted in Delhi in 2013

A good note to start the New Year, fewer people were killed in Delhi in 2013. The number of murders, a prime indicator of the crime situation in a city, dropped. So did the number of accidents, Delhi police commissioner B S Bassi announced in a press conference on Friday.

A total of 487 people were murdered in the city last year, compared to 504 in 2012, a drop of 3.37%. Murders per lakh population have also declined in the last 12 years. The figure came down from 3.9 in 2001 to 2.9 in 2013. Not only did the police solve more cases this year, it also arrested 9,432 criminals in 2013.

The number of rapes reported rose sharply from 1,559 in 2013 to 680 in 2012, a jump of 129%. However, this may simply reflect a greater willingness to report the crime. Molestation cases too shot up 413%, with 3,357 cases compared to 653 cases last year.

Sudden provocation was the leading reason for murders, accounting for about 21% of the killings, shows the data. About 11% of murders were related to sex, 16% were murdered in enmity while 9% were killed in money related matters. Property disputes, police claimed, caused 3% of murders. Crime-related murders were 8% of the total while 10% were due to family disputes. Unidentified dead bodies constitute 10% of the murders.

The number of fatal accidents reported in 2013 was the lowest in the last 10 years with 1,725 deaths reported in 2013 compared with 1801 in 2012 and 2,110 in the year 2011. During the year, 24,564 motorists were prosecuted for drunken driving compared to 23,829 in 2012.

Denisha Sahadevan