The recently released report by the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) on crimes committed in India in the year 2016, ranks Maharashtra high in crimes committed against women, children and senior citizens.
In 2016, the Mumbai Police itself had registered 59,072 cases under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and state laws. However, this is an improvement from 2015, when a total of 66,676 cases were registered by the city police.
Crime Against Women
According to the report, India has witnessed a rise in rape cases, with an increase of 12.4% from 34,651 cases in 2015 to 38,947 in 2016. The report puts Maharashtra third in terms of the crimes committed against women in 2016 at 4,189 cases (10.7%) during 2016, after Madhya Pradesh at 4,882 cases (12.5%) and Uttar Pradesh at 4,816 cases (12.4%), respectively.
Mumbai itself accounted for 5,128 cases of crime against women. This includes cases of kidnapping, abduction, rape, and assault with an intent to outrage modesty. The figure is only marginally better than the 4,819 cases which was reported in 2015.
Crime Against Children
Maharashtra also featured high in the number of crimes committed against children, with the NCRB report stating 2,292 cases of rape against children that took place in the state in 2016. A city-wise comparison revealed that the maximum cases of crime against children were reported in Delhi with 7,392 cases, followed by Mumbai with 3,400 cases, and Bengaluru with 1,333 cases.
Last year, Mumbai recorded 3,187 cases of crime against children in 2016 and 1,456 cases in the year before.
Kidnapping and Abduction
The number of kidnapping cases has jumped almost threefold from 541 in 2014 to 1,949 in 2016. After Delhi, Mumbai ranks second in kidnapping, with the former seeing 5,925 cases in the same period. The crime rate for kidnapping has increased from 8.6 in 2015 to 10.6.
The Indian Express reports that officials have stated that the jump in kidnapping cases could be a result of the strict implementation of a Supreme Court order which directed the police to treat all complaints about missing children as possible kidnapping cases.
Maharashtra Worst in Cyber-Crime
According to the report, most cyber-crimes committed in the country took place in Maharashtra, with Mumbai ranking first with 4,172 cases of cyber-crime being reported for the year 2016. Bengaluru placed second with 762 cases and Jaipur stood third with 532 cases.
Maharashtra was also second in crimes against foreigners, after Delhi. The state registered 38 cases in 2016. The number had declined from 53 cases in 2015 and 59 in 2014.
A total of 7,369 cases (20.6 percent) under juvenile in conflict with law were reported in Madhya Pradesh, followed by 6,606 cases (18.4 percent) in Maharashtra.
Among the 61,974 cases of riots and group clashes, the highest – 11,617 cases – were registered in Bihar, 8,018 in Uttar Pradesh and 7,898 in Maharashtra.
The data on crimes against senior citizens showed that Mumbai reported 1,218 cases out of a total of 3,562 cases in 19 metropolitan cities. Delhi came second at 642 cases and Ahmedabad third with 362 cases, the data revealed.
With inputs from PTI.
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