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November 30, 2017 21:33 IST

The Indian capital is the most unsafe among 19 major cities in the country, accounting for nearly 40 per cent of rapes reported, 33 per cent of crimes against women and the highest crime rate in 2016, according to data released by the National Crime Records Bureau on Thursday.

New Delhi also has the dubious distinction of topping the NCRB list in cases of murder, kidnapping and abduction, juveniles in conflict and economic offences.

According to the report for 2016, covering 19 cities with a population above two million, Delhi reported 33 per cent (13,803 cases of 41,761) of crimes against women last year.

Mumbai followed at a distant second with 12.3 per cent (5,128 cases).

The national capital has a population of nearly 19 million.

Nearly 40 per cent (1,996) of the total number of rape cases in the 19 cities occurred in Delhi in 2016. Mumbai was number two with 712 cases and Pune was third with 354 rapes.

However, 159 more rape cases were also registered in the rural areas of Delhi, taking the total number of rape cases in the entire national capital territory to 2,155.

Joint Director in the NCRB Surendra Panwar said the bureau did not incorporate crime figures of rural areas of the 19 major cities, including Delhi, in the data.

Besides, Delhi accounted for nearly 29 per cent of cases of cruelty towards woman by husband and his relatives (3,645) and dowry deaths (162), the NCRB data revealed.

Delhi reported 38.8 per cent of the total number of crimes under the Indian Penal Code, followed by Bengaluru (8.9 per cent) and Mumbai 7.7 per cent.

The national capital recorded the highest crime rate at 182.1 compared to the national average of 77.2.

Delhi reported the highest number of kidnapping and abduction cases with 5,453 cases (48.3 per cent), followed by Mumbai with 1,876 cases (16.6 per cent) and Bengaluru 879 cases (7.8 per cent) during 2016.

The city reported the highest number of murders with 479 out of the total 2,194 cases (21.8 per cent), followed by Bengaluru with 229 cases (10.4 per cent) and Patna with 195 cases (8.9 per cent).

Delhi had the highest number of cases of juveniles in conflict with law at 35.6 per cent (2,368 cases out of 6,645).

The city reported the maximum number of cases under economic offences 5,942 cases (19.3 per cent), followed by Jaipur (4,742 cases, 15.4 per cent) and Mumbai (4,191 cases, 13.6 per cent).

Chennai reported the highest number of cases of Special and Local Laws (SLL) crimes, accounting for 32.9 per cent of total reported cases among the 19 cities, followed by Kochi (12. 9 per cent) and Surat (12.6 per cent) during 2016.

In cyber crimes, Mumbai reported the highest number of cases -- 980 (23.5 per cent) out of 4,172 cases -- among the 19 major cities in 2016.

The total number of crimes against women across the country in 2016 was 3,38,954 against 3,29,243 in 2015, an increase of 2.9 per cent.

The total number of rapes reported across India in 2016 was 38,947; cruelty by husband or his relatives was at 1,10,378; assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty was 84,746; kidnapping and abduction of women was 64,519. PTI

UP tops the crime chart among states

Uttar Pradesh recorded the highest number of heinous crimes such as murder and those against women in 2016, according to NCRB data.

UP, the country's most populous state, reported the highest number of cases of murder at 4,889, accounting for 16.1 per cent of the total such cases in the country, followed by Bihar where 2,581 (8.4 per cent).

UP registered 14.5 per cent (49,262 cases) of total cases of crime against women, followed by West Bengal 9.6 per cent (32,513 cases) in 2016.

Rape cases recorded an increase of 12.4 per cent from 34,651 cases in the country in 2015 to 38,947 in 2016.

Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh reported the maximum cases of rape at 4,882 (12.5 per cent) and 4,816 (12.4 per cent), followed by Maharashtra 4,189 cases (10.7 per cent) last year, according to the data.

Cases of crime against women have reported an increase of 2.9 per cent in 2016 over 2015. Majority of cases of crimes against women were reported under the heads of cruelty by husband or his relatives (32 per cent), assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty (25 per cent), kidnapping and abduction of women (19 per cent), and rape (11.5 per cent).

UP recorded 9.5 per cent of the total cases of crimes registered under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in the country, followed by Madhya Pradesh (8.9 per cent), Maharashtra (8.8 per cent) and Kerala (8.7 per cent).

A total of 37,37,870 people were arrested in the country in 2016 for various crimes, while a total of 32,71,262 people were charge-sheeted, 7,94,616 were convicted and 11,48,824 people were acquitted or discharged.

Joint Director in the NCRB Surendra Panwar said a total of 48,31,515 cognisable crimes comprising 29,75,711 Indian Penal Code crimes and 18,55,804 special and local laws crimes were reported in 2016, showing an increase of 2.6 per cent over 2015 (47,10,676 cases).

Indian Penal Code crimes have increased by 0.9 per cent -- from 29,49,400 in 2015 to 29,75,711 in 2016. special and local laws crimes have increased by 5.4 per cent from 17,61,276 in 2015 to 18,55,804 in 2016.

During 2016, IPC crimes have reported a charge sheeting rate of 72.9 per cent while conviction rate is 46.8 per cent in the country, Panwar said.

Murder cases in the country have shown declining trends during the last three years. Murder cases decreased by 5.2 per cent from 32,127 cases in 2015 to 30,450 cases in 2016.

Cases of kidnapping and abduction have shown an increasing trend with the increase of 6 per cent (88,008 cases) in 2016 over 82,999 cases in 2015.

The total number of crime against children in 2016 was 1,06,958, which is 13.6 per cent more than 2015 (94,172 cases).

Cases reported under juvenile in conflict with law have shown a mixed trend for the past three years with the decline of 13.1 per cent in 2015 (33,433 cases) over 2014 (38,455 cases), followed by an increase of 7.2 per cent in 2016 (35,849) over 2015.

A total of 7,369 cases (20.6 per cent) under juvenile in conflict with law were reported in Madhya Pradesh, followed by 6,606 cases (18.4 per cent) in Maharashtra.

Atrocities against scheduled castes have increased by 5.5 per cent (40,801 cases) in 2016 over 2015 (38,670 cases).

Uttar Pradesh (10,426 cases) reported the highest number of cases of atrocities against scheduled castes, accounting for 25.6 per cent of total cases, followed by Bihar with 14.0 per cent (5,701 cases) and Rajasthan with 12.6 per cent (5,134 cases) during 2016.

Atrocities against scheduled tribes have increased by 4.7 per cent in 2016 (6,568 cases) over 2015 (6,276 cases).

Madhya Pradesh (1,823 cases) reported the highest number of cases of atrocities against scheduled tribes accounting for 27.8 per cent of total such cases, followed by Rajasthan 18.2 per cent (1,195 cases) and Odisha 10.4 per cent (681 cases) during 2016, according to the NCRB data.