Virus effect? Fewer street crime, accidents in Delhi

Crimes such as robbery, snatching, molestation, and theft have declined by up to 50%: Police data

nNEW DELHI: Street crimes such as robbery, snatching, theft and molestation declined by up to 50% between March 15 and March 31 this year in the city from the same period last year, according to the Delhi Police’s fortnightly data released on Friday, as the city battled the spectre of the coronavirus disease.

The number of fatal road accidents also came down drastically from 48 last year to 19 during the same period this year, the data showed.

The decrease in the number of crimes can be attributed to the nationwide lockdown that started on March 25 when the police kept a high profile to enforce that people stayed indoors, police officers said, requesting anonymity. Most public and private transport vehicles went off the roads, making for fewer accidents.

The police officers said that a majority of the crimes were reported between March 15 and March 22, before prohibitory orders were first issued in Delhi. Later, the 21-day nationwide lockdown was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to prevent the spread of the virus.

The police data, however, does not have the figures of serious crimes such as dacoity, murder, attempt to murder, and rape.

“There has been a significant decline in all the crimes. The exact number of crimes that happened during the lockdown period, between March 25 and March 31, is not available. But as far as the trend of the reporting of crimes is concerned, the incidents of serious crimes have been very less. A majority of the cases (in data between March 15 and 31) were registered between March 15 and 22. Nearly 50% of the registered cases have already been solved,” said Delhi Police spokesman Mandeep Singh Randhawa.

According to police statistics, 53 cases of robbery were reported during March 15 and 31 this year as against 109 during the same period in 2019. There were 294 cases of snatching in the same period last year, which declined by almost 39% to 181 this year.

Apart from robbery and snatching, vehicle thefts also declined. Data showed that 1,243 vehicles were stolen in the city in the second half of March this year, whereas this number was 1,982 during the same period in 2019. In Delhi, on average, about 140 vehicles were stolen every day last year. However, due to the coronavirus effect, the average number came down to 73 per day, the data shows.

The number of vehicles stolen after March 22, when restriction came into force, must be less than

Robbery

House theft

Burglary

Simple accident

Kidnapping

Snatching

Motor vehicle theft 53 109

121 66

55

126 112 150

200, a police officer said.

The police registered three extortion and 55 burglary cases between the period this year. The number was 13 and 126 respectively in that time last year.

The police data shows that molestation cases also declined by 50% to 72 in the period this year as against 114 in the last 17 days of March 2019.

“As the lockdown has led to a sharp decline in vehicular movements in the city, there were only 216 181 259 294

19 deaths in road accidents between March 15 and 31 this year. Cases of simple accidents also reduced to 112 as compared to 216 reported in the second half of March last year,” said another police officer.

As far as serious crimes are concerned, no case of kidnapping for ransom was reported in the second half of March as compared to one case that was registered last year during the same period.