A criminal case was registered almost every three minutes in the Capital last year, a 23 per cent jump from 2014.
Data provided by the National Crime Records Bureau for 2014 and 2015 and the Delhi Police for the same years show the crime graph climbing with each passing year.
But crimes that tormented a large number of people in the city were rising incidents of theft, robbery and kidnapping.
With around 72,000 cases reported last year, incidents of theft shot up by almost 30 per cent compared with 2014.
But more worrisome were the increasing incidents of vehicle theft despite the best efforts of the police to check them. With 32,729 cases, vehicle thefts registered a 40 per cent increase from the previous year, NCRB data show.
With less than 10 per cent of the stolen vehicles recovered by the police, officers have gone on record to say that they will be unable to recover most stolen vehicles and that motorists must opt for their own security measures and insurance to protect or cover their cars and motorcycles.
Women’s safety
Cases relating to women’s safety have also contributed heavily to the overall numbers.
Almost 8,700 cases registered last year related to rape and molestation, with children being victims in a considerable number of incidents.
For their part, the police attribute the rising crimes against women to their own approach of not turning away any woman who approaches them with a complaint of sexual harassment.
To substantiate their claims, they point to the registration of 1,124 cases of stalking and 66 cases of voyeurism, both witnessing a 100 per cent jump compared with 2014.
Bhim Sain Bassi, who was the Delhi Police Commissioner for most of 2014-15, attributed the increase in the crime graph to the “systematic eradication” of burking (non-registration or suppressing the severity of crimes) in the police force.
Meanwhile, other heinous crimes like murders, dowry deaths, acid attacks and riots saw a marginal dip in 2015, compared with the previous year.
