Just 14 robberies as Capital’s crime rate dips in lockdown

NOT A SINGLE CASE OF ABDUCTION (OF ADULTS) OR EXTORTION HAS BEEN REPORTED SINCE MARCH 25; DEATHS BY ROAD ACCIDENTS HAVE ALSO SEEN A SHARP DIP

nNEWDELHI: Delhi Police are in the middle of an extremely rare respite from all kinds of crime starting on March 22, when stringent measures were put in place to stave off the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), before a nationwide lockdown took effect three days later. The police maintaining a higher profile outdoors to enforce the lockdown, and fear of the virus has helped.

Not a single case of abduction (of adults) or extortion has been reported since the lockdown, Crimes such as robbery, snatching, kidnapping (of minors) and theft have dropped significantly compared to the situation before the police and the state government enforced the complete lockdown in Delhi on March 22, when the nation observed a “Janta Curfew” on the Prime Minister’s call.

The city police’s crime data in the three weeks (March 1 to

March 21) before the lockdown period and after that(march 22 to March 31), accessed by Hindustan Times, shows that there has been an unprecedened reduction in all types of crime across the city.

Sample this – between March 1 and March 21, 63 persons died in road accidents. At least 1,600 road accident deaths are reported each year – an average of around four deaths every day.

But between March 22 and March 31, there were only eight deaths. Public and most private transport vehicles have gone off the roads for the duration of the lockdown, explaining the dip.