Rape, murder cases see dip in Delhi, snatching cases surge

Representational Image. (Photo: iStock)


The number of crimes against women in the national capital saw a decline in 2020, with rape cases going down by 21.63 per cent, of molestation by 25.16 per cent and insult to modesty of women by 12.32 per cent, the Delhi Police said on Friday.

As per Delhi Police officials in their annual press conference, the involvement of strangers in rape cases has been 1.77 per cent in 2020 as against 2.20 per cent in 2019. Police said that in rape cases, 44 per cent of the persons involved were either family or family friends while 26 per cent were other known persons. In 2 per cent of the rape cases, the employer or the co-workers were involved, while in 12 per cent of the cases, the neighbours were found to be involved.

Overall, the Delhi Police registered 2,66,070 cases under the Indian Penal Code in 2020, a drop of more than 15 per cent as against 2019. In 2019, a total of 3,16,261 cases were registered.

Last year also witnessed a drop in the number of PCR calls received. A total of 18,08,384 were received in 2020, against 29,25,531 PCR calls in 2019, a drop of 38.19 per cent.

Murder cases in the city have gone down by 9.40 per cent. A total of 472 such cases were registered in 2020 while 521 were registered in 2019, the police said.

Cases of kidnapping for ransom dropped by 26.67 per cent, burglary cases went down by 27.33 per cent, motor vehicle theft cases by 24.23 per cent and other theft cases by 30.52 per cent, it added.

However, the number of snatching cases in 2020 saw a surge and went up by 27.11 per cent from 2019. As many as 7,965 such cases were registered last year as against 6,266 in 2019.

According to Delhi Police, there was a marginal rise of 0.35 per cent in the number of robbery cases. A total of 1,963 cases were registered in 2020 as compared to 1,956 in 2019.