City sees decline in crime against women as social distancing keeps crime at bay

The Capital witnessed a sharp decline in heinous crime against women since the beginning of lockdown, the data shared by Delhi Police sources show.

The data shared with The Hindu, recorded that from March 22 to April 12, the number of rape cases registered under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code stood at 23 as opposed to 139 in 2019, during the same time period leading to a decline of 83.4%.

The data also stated that the number of cases registered on charges of assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty stood at 33 as compared to 233 in 2019 from March 22 to April 12 leading to a decline of 85.8%.

Sudden provocation

A senior police officer said that the reason of decline is that one of the major reasons of crime being committed is sudden provocation which is a rare possibility at this time. “There are no crowds, people don’t have the environment to get angry which means they can’t get provoked. There are no vehicles on the road which would lead to case of road rage or road accidents,” the officer said.

Explaining the decreased rate of crime against women, the officer said that molestation has reduced because there is no visual contact. “No metro, no bus, no public transport for men to interact with women also plays a major role in reduction of crime. Another factor is people are not able to procure alcohol which is a trigger for many crimes,” he said adding that crime related to money and property have also reduced because everyone knows that any transaction will take place only after lockdown.

Society and crime

“If there is society, only then there is crime,” said another officer adding, “Social distancing has also kept crime at a distance”. Talking about rape and molestation cases which have been registered, the officer said that two reasons can be, “One, that these are old complaints which are turning into FIRs and two, some people are taking advantage of the situation knowing that going to report the case might be tough”.

Last fortnight, March 15 to March 31, crime of all categories reduced substantially as compared to the same period in 2019. Molestation of women reduced from 144 to 72, robberies from 109 to 53, extortion cases from 13 to 3, theft from 1982 to 1243.

According to the Delhi Commission for Women, cases of domestic violence have also not increased during the time when men and women are at home.

“Upon analysis of the calls received by the Commission’s 181 Women Helpline, it has been observed that there has been no rising trend in domestic violence cases on the helpline. On the contrary, the number of cases reported to the commission have decreased,” they said in a statement.