Sex crimes plague people in even in COVID times

CM in Home dept’s policy note says murders, robberies and burglaries have dipped

CHENNAI: There is no aspect of life that has escaped the effects of the pandemic; not even the crime charts. This is to say that the pandemic has apparently had its effects — in 2020, sex crimes are up and property crimes down compared to the previous year.

The number of rapes, Pocso cases, dowry deaths and molestation went up in 2020 in Tamil Nadu and murders, robberies, burglaries and thefts went down in the same period. This data came out in a policy note on the Home department tabled in the Assembly on Thursday by Chief Minister MK Stalin.

The statistics showed a rise in the number of rapes; 404 in 2020, up from 370 in 2019. Molestation cases went up from 803 in 2019 to 892 in 2020. Sexual harassment cases rose from 7 to 31. Pocso cases went up from 2,396 to 3,090.

The value of property lost in related offences stood at Rs 172 crore in 2019. The corresponding value for 2020 was Rs 111 crore.

Under the property offences category, murder for gain decreased from 67 in 2019 to 64 in 2020. Robbery was down from 2,444 to 2,023. Burglary also declined with 4,275 cases getting reported in 2020 compared to 4,392 cases in 2019. There is a significant drop in the number of thefts, from 15,682 to 12,492.

Other crimes, particularly murders (murder for gain not included), too, came down from 1,678 to 1,597. The number of cheating cases declined to 2,717 from 3,289. Counterfeit cases were 69 in 2019 but only 38 in 2020.

The lower number of vehicles due to lockdown meant that fatal road accidents reduced to 7,559 in 2020 from 10,259 in 2019.