Crime Capital: Delhi records 39% of offences in metros

NEW DELHI: Delhi was unable to get rid of the tag of being the country’s ‘crime capital’ in 2016 as well.

Data released by the National Crime Records Bureau on Thursday showed that among metropolitan cities, Delhi City accounted for 38.8% of the crimes reported under the Indian Penal Code. Bengaluru and Mumbai were placed second and third, with 8.9% and 7.7% of the cases, respectively.

With 21.8% share of reported homicides (479 of 2,194 cases), the capital recorded the most murders, more than Bengaluru (10.4%, 229 cases) and Patna (8.9%, 195 cases).


Of the 41,761 cases of crime against women, 13,803 took place in Delhi, implying a 33% incidence. Mumbai comparably was kinder to women with 5,128 cases or 12.3% of the total. Almost 40% of the rapes took place in the capital, as also nearly 29% of cases related to dowry deaths and cruelty by husband or his relatives.

And given the statistics, Delhi was deemed to have the highest crime rate (182.1 crimes per lakh population) against the national average of 77.2.

The number of crimes against foreigners in Delhi went up to 154 (40.3% of crimes under this head). This was higher than the 147 of 2015, though lower than the 164 registered in 2014. The maximum kidnappings and abductions too were reported from the capital. With 5,453 cases, or 48.3%, Delhi was far ahead of Mumbai (16.6% 1,876 cases) and Bengaluru (7.8%, 879 cases).

The highest number of offences affecting the human body among the metro cities were logged in Delhi (25.0%), followed by Mumbai (10.8%) and Bengaluru (8.5%). Delhi was the locale for the most thefts too, accounting for 74,293 of the 1,94,558 cases for a 38.2% share. Of these, 37,147 involved the vehicle thefts. Delhi was followed in this respect by Bengaluru (5,843) and Jaipur (5,271).

Overall, police in Delhi registered 3,14,587 cases for investigation, followed by Mumbai with 1,07,079 cases and Bengaluru with 64,771 cases.

The citywise comparisons, however, had a respite for the capital in crimes against senior citizens, where Mumbai led with 1,218 cases (34.2%), and Delhi was in second place (642 cases, 18%), followed by Ahmedabad (362 cases 10.2%) in third.

Asked to respond, Delhi Police maintained that the rise in the numbers of registered crime was actually the fallout of several of its initiatives. “Proactive action by police, e-firs and encouraging people to lodge FIRs have all resulted in easy registration of crime in Delhi,” explained Dependra Pathak, chief spokesperson, Delhi Police.

The cops also cited data showing a decline of 24% in heinous crimes this year and case resolution percentage jumped from 69% to 85%.