WAVE OF CRIME IN INDIA

Crime is a major part of every society. Its costs and effects touch just about everyone

to some degree. The types of costs and effects are widely varied. In addition, some

costs are short-term while others last a lifetime. Of course the ultimate cost is loss of

life. Other costs to victims can include medical costs, property losses, and loss of

income.

Losses to both victims and non victims can also come in the form of increased

security expenses including stronger locks, extra lighting, parking in more expensive

secure lots, security alarms for homes and cars, and maintaining guard dogs.

Considerable money is spent to avoid being victimized. Other types of expenses can

include a victim or person fearful of crime moving to a new neighborhood, funeral

expenses, legal fees, and loss of school days.

Crime not only affects economic productivity when victims miss work, but

communities also are affected through loss of tourism and retail sales. Even the so-

called victimless crimes of prostitution, drug abuse, and gambling have major social

consequences. Drug abuse affects worker productivity, uses public funds for drug

treatment programs and medical attention, and leads to criminal activity to support the

expenses of a drug habit.

Communities and governments spend public funds for police departments, prisons and

jails, courts, and treatment programs, including the salaries of prosecutors, judges,

public defenders, social workers, security guards, and probation officers. The amount

of time spent by victims, offenders, their families, and juries during court trials also

take away from community productivity. By the beginning of the twenty-first century

it was estimated that the annual cost of crime in the United States was reaching

upward toward $1.7 trillion.

1

Available statistics on crimes in India depict an extremely disturbing picture of the

law and order situation of the country. As per National Crime Records Bureau

(NCRB), Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, during 2010, a total of

67,50,748 cognizable crimes comprising 22,24,831 Indian Penal Code (IPC) crimes

and 45,25,917 Special & Local Laws (SLL) crimes were reported, showing an

increase of 1.11% over 2009 (66,75,217). The (IPC) crime rate has increased by 3.9%

over 2009[2]. Crime trends under major heads from 1953-2011 reveal that crimes

such as Dacoity and Burglary/House breaking have been on the decline over a period

of 59 years however, crimes such as murder, rape, kidnapping & abduction, robbery

and riots have been on the rise. While, Burglary/ House breaking has declined by

37.2% (from 1,47,379 in 1953 to 92,504 in 2011) and Dacoity has declined by 23.2%

(from 5,579 in 1953 to 4,285 in 2011), Murder has increased by 250.0% (from 9,802

in 1953 to 34,305 in 2011); Rape by 873.3% (from 2,487 in 1971 to 24,206 in 2011);

Kidnapping & Abduction by 749.0% (from 5,261 in 1953 to 44,664 in 2011);

Robbery by 193.8% (from 8,407 in 1953 to 24,700 in 2011) and Riots by 233.7%

(from 20,529 in 1953 to 68,500 in 2011)[3].  It is evident that heinous and violent

crimes are on the rise which is surely a cause for concern.

The police force in India is constrained by the lack of adequate manpower, equipment,

technology & technical know-how and to some extent political will. According to

NCRB, in 2011 the actual strength of police force was 12, 81,317 against the

sanctioned strength of 16, 60,953. In terms of percentage of IPC cases, disposed by

courts was mere 13.5% as opposed to the remaining 84.5% cases which were pending.

Similarly, disposal of SLL cases by courts was 41.3% while remaining 57.9% cases

were pending during the year 2011[4].

Urban safety and security is vital for the inflow of investment and overall

development and it is time the challenge of securing our cities is taken up in the right

2

earnest. Some of the measures that would be crucial to achieve this are better policing,

inclusive urban planning to counter the risk of propagating crimes, technological

advancement in security, and socio-economic up gradation and development of

overcrowded slum areas that are prone to criminal acts and violence.  The need of the

hour is also for every citizen of the country to be aware of their role in ensuring the

safety and security of society at large.

The Conference on Homeland Security 2012: Safe and Secure City being organised

by FICCI on August 7-8, 2012 at Federation House, New Delhi will attempt to find

answers to several questions concerning the safety of Indian cities. It would provide

an opportunity to learn from initiatives across several states of India and deliberate on

how to make our cities secure.

THE CRIME WAVE IN INDIA

The writing on the wall is clear – It is not enough just to realize the gravity of the

situation, take a backseat and hope that we as individuals never become the target of

crime or violence. On the contrary, each one of us needs to rise to the challenge and

strive for a society free of crime and fear.

A PROFESSOR was beaten to death by his own students in Ujjain. A gang of nine

taxi drivers from Gurgaon robbed and killed at least 35 people after offering them lift;

a crowd of revellers stripped and molested a girl in full public view at gateway

of India in Mumbai on the New Year’s eve. Days after horrible Nithari killing, four

decomposed bodies of children were recovered from an abandoned godown

in Punjab and the sexually assaulted teenage girls in the Kashmir valley are still

struggling to cope up with trauma. These are just few grim incidents of the last couple

of months, which shocked India and revealed how crime is becoming a dominant fact

of urban life and a growing blight on countryside as well.

3

The impact of the crime in India is that today more and more people report that they

keep some kind of self-protection at home; watchdogs are becoming as popular as the

friendly family pet.  Vigilante groups and private security agencies are flourishing.

Even in the national capital not only women prefer to stay off the streets at night, but

parents also feel insure about the safety of their children.

The crime wave has raised many disturbing questions. Is India’s social system

crumbling? Are the youngsters really more crime-prone than they have been in the

past? And more importantly, what is the police and judiciary doing to ensure the

safety of average citizen. 

According to many psychologists, as freedom increases, so does crime rate. "When

you have greater amounts of individual freedom you probably would experience a

greater amount of social deviance," says Aroona Broota, a leading psychologist. The

rapid economic development in India is also giving rise to crime. The sudden

prosperity or quick technological development unleashes overweening ambition.

Expectations rise to unreasonable heights, and in the economic stampede that follows,

some people move ahead rightfully, while others walk on the rules, and crime soars.

 

But the question is also there: Is this frustration of falling behind in life alone that is

pushing people towards crime. After all, why not work for those goals instead of

breaking the law? 

There are many things which are pushing people towards crime. But I think many

people want short cuts to achieve their ambitions. To them crime seems only ladder to

achieve their goals and they think that will evade the police," says Rajan Bhagat,

assistant commissioner of Delhi Police (Crime Branch).  "If an individual has a stake

4

in society he is less likely to become criminal than someone with no job and no

future.” 

A large proportion of Indian youth (according to NCRB 44 per cent of the arrested

criminals belong to the age group of 10 to 30 year) yields to the temptations of crime

is also an evidence of a deep disquiet. Too often, there is some sort of family reason in

the making of criminal. 

“Without strong guidance from a devoted father, it is all too easy for a boy to become

a school dropout, to drift aimlessly into petty thievery. Often he sees no alternative to

a life of crime, for the vast technological changes have sharply limited the market for

unskilled labour,” says Aroona Broota.

As Nikhil Kumar, former commissioner of Delhi Police says  police force has to be

reformed to make application of law firm. No doubt a respect for law and a confidence

in punishment is a best deterrent to crime.

But the part of the problem is also that even if police do their job and produce the

culprit before the court of law, there is an uncertainty of punishment, particularly if

the culprit is politician or linked to politician. The criminal-justice system in India is

absurdly slow, overburdened and it is random in its selection of who is to be punished.

According to NCRB, out of 50,26337 reported cases in India in 2005, the conviction

rate is just 42.4.

The problem is also that some of the old values and religious restraints have been

battered by the fast changing social life and the youth rebellion. As social

responsibility looks forgotten thing and disillusionment set in, fewer and fewer people

look to the religious places, learning institutes for moral leadership. Today’s

widespread moral smoothness tends to agree with the old saying that a society gets the

criminals it deserves.

5

Snap shot of crime in India 

One rape every 29 minutes 

One murder every 19 minutes

One kidnapping every 23 minutes

One dowry death every 77 minutes 

One molestation every 15 minutes

One violent crime 3 minutes 

One cheating case every 10 minutes

One dacoity every 2 hours

One riots every 9 minutes

One arson every hour

One theft every 2 minutes

One property crime every minute 5

One crime against children every 35 minutes 

 (Source NCRB)

References –:

[1] Bhattacharya, P.C. 2002. Urbanisation in Developing Countries. Economic and Political Weekly, October 2002, pp. 4219-4228.[2] National Crime Research Bureau. 2010. Crime in India Compendium[3] National Crime Research Bureau. 2012. Crime in India Compendium[4] National Crime Research Bureau. 2012. Crime in India Compendium

6