Delhi: 101% rise in major crimes citywide in 2022; 1,186% rise in West Delhi alone

The national capital has seen an increase of 101 per cent in major crimes reported from 2021 to 2022, according to responses obtained under the Right to Information Act by the Praja Foundation.

However, the Delhi Police has registered crime data on its website only up to 15 July 2022.

The report launched by the Praja Foundation on ‘State of Policing and Law & Order in Delhi, 2023’ highlights the registration of crimes across 156 police stations in Delhi and the maintenance of crime statistics in Delhi.

The data available on the website of the Delhi Police shows a marginal increase in registered crime by 8% from 2021 to 2022. According to the Delhi Police website, housebreaking cases have increased by 315%—from 2,520 in 2021 to 10,454 in 2022, as on 15 July of the respective years.

However, according to responses obtained under the RTI Act, the registration of major crimes such as murder, rape, kidnapping, theft and robbery has increased by 1,186% in the West district, by 739% in Shahdara, by 531% in East Delhi, by 226% in New Delhi, by 131% in Rohini, by 110% in Dwarka, and by 106% in the Outer North district from 2021 to 2022.

“The data gaps highlight the necessity for coordinated efforts to better policing systems based on data orientation," said Milind Mhaske, CEO of Praja Foundation. "It indicates that the data on usual crime heads is not even being maintained at the DCP offices of Delhi police."

The Praja team made an effort to approach all 179 police stations in Delhi. However, the foundation received data only from 156 police stations, said Mhaske.

This gap may lead to ineffective decision making, and a lack of coordinated actions to control crime and to maintain law and order in Delhi, said Priyanka Sharma of the foundation.

Mhaske added that the remaining 23 police stations either denied the request for data or directed the team to get approval from the respective DCPs of the districts, even though the RTI was forwarded from the DCP offices.

Crimes against women and children

Out of the total 1,697 rape cases registered in 156 police stations (out of 179) of Delhi, 49 per cent (829) are under the Protection of Children Against Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO).

In the last 5 years, on an average, more than 41 per cent of the reported rape cases were perpetrated against minor girls. Rape of minor girls, which falls under the POCSO Act, increased by 29 per cent, with the number increasing from 643 cases in 2018 to 829 cases in 2022 .

Availability of data

Data on district-wise crime statistics are not available with the Delhi Police Headquarters, if their RTI responses are to be believed.

Ironically, data on the usual crime statistics are also not available at the District DCP offices, and the requests were forwarded to respective police stations for inspection.

RTI queries also revealed that none of the Delhi Police district offices have maintained data on the well-being of police staff, which includes details of their health and working conditions.

In at least 50 per cent out of the 16 districts, police stations have not maintained a record of ailments among police personnel, whereas the data for other 50 per cent of the districts showed that there were no registered cases of ailments among police personnel in 2022.

The report pointed out that no questions were raised by MPs on the well-being of police personnel from Budget 2019 to Budget 2023.

The report also pointed out that there was a significant shortage of personnel in critical roles for forensic testing.

There seems to be a shortage of 54 per cent for senior scientific officers, 73 per cent for senior scientific assistants, 71 per cent for scientific assistants, and 68 per cent for laboratory assistants, per 2022 figures.