“The Pessimist Sees Difficulty In Every Opportunity. The Optimist Sees Opportunity In Every Difficulty.”

NCRB data has expectedly placed Uttar Pradesh as the state with the highest number and incidence of crime. In UP in 2023, the number of cases of crimes against women were more than 65000. The number of unreported crimes is left to the imagination.

Maharashtra is at the second place after UP in this chart. The state registered over 45000 cases last year, closely followed by Rajasthan, which also recorded about a like number of cases, though much lesser crimes were chargesheeted there as compared with UP and Maharashtra.

Although Maharashtra was once upon a time considered the best administered and safest state in the country, its reputation has tarnished over the past few years. Mumbai, the commercial capital of India, boasted of a police force which was said to be ‘next only to Scotland Yard.’ Having hailed popularly as a city that hardly sleeps and feeds every person who is prepared to work, it has shown an alarming tendency to flout rules and regulations, especially the traffic discipline. Maharashtra takes pride in calling itself the most progressive state that has the largest population of working women. It is a fact that Maharashtra has pioneered the cause of women over a century ago but is losing its sheen since crimes against women and girls have shown a steady increase. Unfortunately, the socio-economic audit of this trend has not been carried out.

The NCRB data analysis shows that the majority of cases under the ‘crime against women’ category filed under IPC were registered against husband or his relatives (31.4 per cent) for showing cruelty against the victims. This is followed by ‘kidnapping and abduction’ (19.2 per cent). ‘Assault on women with intent to outrage modesty’ are at the third slot (18.7 percent), followed by ‘rape’ (7.1 per cent). The crime rate registered per lakh women population was 66.4 in 2022 against 64.5 in 2021 for the country, the NCRB report has stated.

Nagpur, the second capital of Maharashtra, has ranked fifth in the violent crime rate among the 19 metropolitan cities and stands first in the state, the NCRB has declared. The police stations in Nagpur city registered nearly 13000 cases under different provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The rate of crime incidence in Nagpur is calculated as 516 per lakh population. On the other hand, Mumbai metropolis recorded over 69000 crimes and considering its population, the crime rate was shown as 376.3. Pune, the fast expanding two-tier city, recorded more than 11000 cases with the crime rate of 219.3.

Though the overall crime incidence in Nagpur is a cause for concern, the violent crimes have shown a decreasing trend. According to the report, Nagpur police registered about 1400 violent crime cases in 2021, their number was 1228 and 1361, respectively, in 2020 and 2019.

Mumbai has recorded over 6900 economic offences in 2022, the highest among all metro cities in India. Their number swelled to 4724 from 2883 in 2021. Mumbai is followed by Hyderabad, with more than 6000 economic offences registered last year. Delhi with almost 5000 such cases is at the third place. In Mumbai, over 1000 cases involved criminal breach of trust. Crimes such as forgery, cheating and fraud stood next at almost 5900.

Considering the total number of cyber crimes, Telangana leads the list with about 15300 cases. Maharashtra is at the fourth slot with over 8250 cases in 2022. Karnataka, another major state with Bengaluru as the cyber capital of India, registered over 12500 cases by reaching the second spot. A surprising entry is UP with more than 10000  cases registered to take the third position.

In Maharashtra, the cyber stalking or bullying of women and children cases showed an increase over the previous years. Online frauds exceeded 2200 cases while 275 frauds involving credit or debit cards came to light. Four cases were found to be related to online abetment of suicide. Personal revenge, emotional outbursts like anger, fraud, extortion, causing disrepute and sexual exploitation were the other forms of cyber crimes. The state last year recorded over 2500 cases in which crimes were committed against women. They were categorised as cyber stalking or bullying.

When it came to reporting cyber crimes in metropolitan cities in 2022, Bengaluru topped the list with over 9900 cases, followed by Mumbai with more than 4700 offences registered. Hyderabad lodged over 4400 criminal cases and the third spot was occupied by it.

The overall crime rate in India in 2023 has marginally decreased against the earlier year, as per the report. Unfortunately, rape cases have gone up by 1.1 percent while kidnapping and abduction cases have shown a sharp jump of 5.1 percent. Urban areas continue to house higher criminal activity even though the decline in the overall crime rate is a welcome sign.

The downward trend could be because of more and more police presence, improved law enforcement measures and increased public awareness about crime prevention, the report has surmised.

Of course a welcome development, the growing population and urbanisation have made it imperative to reorient the police training methods. Similarly, the law and order machinery needs increased resources. The Maharashtra government will have to take this scenario seriously and ensure safe and secure life for all people in the state.