Delhi is often famed for its lack of safety. In 2020, it was noted that Delhi had the maximum crime rate compared to 19 other metropolitan areas (which had a population greater than 2 million), as per the NCRB (2020). While true, there are nuances in this claim—for instance, in 2021, Delhi saw a 15 per cent rise in crime, with ~306,389 cases reported. Of these, there were 5,740 crime cases reported, with ~70 per cent of all cases falling under burglary, robbery or theft. There were ~459 murder cases, along with 17 kidnapping for ransom cases. Approximately 41,113 cases were those of crimes against senior citizens. About 15,146 Police Control Room (PCR) calls were received, while ~21 gangs were identified in Delhi’s outlying areas. In 2019, Delhi reported ~300,000 cases of crime, with a rape happening every four hours. Let’s understand the nature of the problem first. As per NCRB’s Crime in India report, 19 metropolitan cities (cities as varied as Ahmedabad, Delhi, Indore, Kolkata, Nagpur, Surat, etc.) had over 860,960 cognizable crimes recorded as per the IPC, with a further 256, 063 crimes recorded as per special and local laws—this was a jump of 7.8 per cent over 2018 overall (~10 per cent jump for IPC crimes). For IPC crimes, ~51 per cent were classified as theft, while rash driving over public ways accounted for 9.5 per cent in 2019. Meanwhile, for special and local laws, ~27.7 per cent were crimes registered under the Prohibition Act, while City/Town Police Acts accounted for ~19.5 per cent.
At the same time, it must also be noted that Delhi has made the reporting of crime easier (e.g. being able to file online FIRs) and has a high conviction rate (~85 per cent for IPC crime vs an all-India average of ~59 per cent; for rape related cases, the conviction rate was ~21 per cent vs the all-India average). Delhi’s police force also highlights a 12 per cent decline in murder cases in the past two years in the city, along with a sharp reduction in street crime instances (as of 2022). The number of PCR-related calls has also declined by ~60 per cent, given a push for quick registration of cases, preventive arrests, active surveillance and picket checking.
Additionally, Delhi’s police forces are considered India’s best, with respect to parameters like staffing, infrastructure, budgetary allocation, etc., along with Maharashtra and Kerala. In comparison, states like Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Bihar are routinely at the bottom, perhaps as a consequence of their large populations. Having considered this, one must also understand the reasons for why Delhi is prone to a high crime rate. As per the NCRB’s report in 2020, Delhi witnessed ~619 crimes on a daily basis, accounting for ~41 per cent of total crimes committed and recorded. With respect to metro cities only, the majority of crimes recorded were in Delhi, while Mumbai accounted for one fifth of Delhi’s numbers. Part of this is just better reporting—Delhi Police enables online reporting of FIRs; more complaints are registered in Delhi compared to any other city in India. Meanwhile, Delhi’s hinterland continues to be semi-rural in nature, with a cultural attitude that is generally disdainful of authority; with Delhi’s population mostly migrant in nature, the varied nature of the population, along with the sheer volume of people, makes it more likely that crimes will occur. Meanwhile, the number of policemen available for conducting policing duties in Delhi is relatively limited. Approximately 25 per cent of the force is typically needed for the protection of VIPs, with ~62,821 policemen available to protect the rest of the population; effectively a ratio of 1 policeman per 300 people.
Only recently has this been better addressed. In 2021, the Delhi Police was allocated ~ `8,664 crore in the Union Budget (vs `7,882 crore in 2020 and `6,792 crore in 2019), of which `8,100 crore was earmarked for existing establishment-related expenditure. Meanwhile, a further `237 crore was allocated for upgrading and expanding communication infrastructure, along with modernizing equipment, procuring vehicles and upgrading training programmes. About `306 crore was allocated for spending on police infrastructure, including creating new office and residential buildings.
Excerpted from The Indian Metropolis: Deconstructing India’s Urban Spaces by Feroze Varun Gandhi.