Commentary/Rajiv Shukla
Bangalore is tops where crime is concerned
Although Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda
has created a special task
force to control crime in Delhi and has expressed concern
over the crime rate in the national capital, the irony is that Bangalore, capital of his home
state, Karnataka, has the highest
crime rate in the country.
According to a Delhi police presentation, quoting a Central
Bureau of Investigation study as its source, the volume of crimes
per hundred thousand people is highest in
Bangalore and lowest in Delhi. Bangalore has 14, 011
crimes per 100,000 people, Calcutta has 4,172 crimes registered
while Bombay and Madras have 1,879 and 1,568
respectively. Lucknow (1,454), Ahmedabad
(991) and Delhi (601) follow.
The study makes some interesting revelations about 'heinous'
crimes -- dacoity, murder, attempt to murder, robbery,
rioingt, and kidnapping -- in these cities. Fortyone per cent of the accused
in such cases are school dropouts while six per cent are students.
Belying the widely held notion that most heinous crimes
are committed by those who live in the nation's shanty towns, the
study reveals that 50 per cent of those who commit such crimes
live in authorised housing colonies, five per cent in unauthorised colonies
and two per cent in government flats! Only 20 per cent of the criminals live in
slums.
As far as motive in murder cases are concerned the study reveals that
only 17 per cent of murders in India's metropolitan cities are committed
because of sudden provocation. Fifty per cent are instigated by old feuds,
13 per cent are crimes of passion and nine per cent killings
take place during robberies.
The study has an interesting analysis of rape as well. Most rapes are committed by
neighbours or by individuals of the victim's acquaintance.
In Delhi, out of 254 rape cases registered in 1996, 124 were committed by neighbours,
five by the victim's father,
four by the stepfather, four by an uncle, two by a brother, one by a cousin, three by
a nephew, one by a father-in-law, 10 by friends of the family, four by class fellows,
five by employers, 54 by others known to the victim. In only 37 cases were
the rapists unidentified.
Delhi police officers explain the neighbour phenomenon thus: Most of the girls,
police officers say, fall in love with their neighbours.
Compelled by their parents or when caught in flagrante delicto,
the girls register a complaint of rape. The CBI study reveals that 76 per cent of rapes
are committed at home.
There is a significant difference in the situation in Delhi and Bombay. In Bombay,
most of the crimes are committed by the city's gangs;
in Delhi, on the other hand, the underworld is not organised.
The few gangs which operate in Delhi are based in the neighbouring
districts of Uttar Pradesh.
Before creating a task force in major Indian
cities to control crime, I feel Prime Minister H D
Deve Gowda should first improve the living and working conditions of Indian
police officers and men. Indian policemen are ill-equipped, inadequately trained and
poorly paid. How can a constable with a .303 rifle of World War II vintage
confront criminals with AK-56 rifles and explosives? Our police stations have
got lousy vehicles and the condition of our paramilitary
forces is pathetic. I believe the prime minister should
increase the salaries of India's police officers and men at least four fold before he sets out on the ambitious endeavour of reining in crime.
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