Against the trend, Cyberabad sees 6.6% rise in crime
Just like in the Hyderabad and Rachakonda limits, Cyberabad commissionerate too reported an increase of 135 per cent in cybercrime
Hyderabad: The common trend during the lockdown, of an increase in cybercrime, and at the same time, a fall in crimes against women, marked the year for the Cyberabad Police limits, where there was an increase of 6.65 per cent in the overall number of cases registered in 2020.
Addressing the annual press conference here on Tuesday, Cyberabad Police Commissioner VC Sajjanar said the number of cases registered under the Indian Penal Code, Special Local Laws and others during the year 2020 were 24,868, as against the 23,320 cases registered in 2019.
However, there was a decrease of 22.7 per cent in fatal road accidents and a drop of 18.66 per cent in crime against women along with a 12.24 per cent decrease in cases related to crime against children, especially Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act cases.
On the other hand, just like in the Hyderabad and Rachakonda limits, Cyberabad too reported an increase of 135 per cent in cybercrime and a 42 per cent increase in economic offences as well.
There was a dip in bodily offences by 8.3 per cent while crime against weaker sections too went down by 7.5 per cent.
Stating that the increase in the cases was due to transparency and increased approachability of the police to the public, Sajjanar said that despite devoting many hours to containment of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Cyberabad Police ensured that regular policing duties never suffered.
“We also kept vigil with an unswerving commitment to tackle crimes that arose out of socio-economic inequalities which came under sharp focus during this period,” he said, adding that cases of ordinary theft, robbery, burglaries, murder, rioting, kidnapping, rape and fatal road mishaps, which had come down sharply during the initial days of the lockdown, witnessed a surge in July-August.
“We dealt with them effectively as we had anticipated well in advance and special teams were spread out to distant areas to curtail different crimes,” he said, pointing out that in the latter part of the year, there was a slight increase in non-fatal accidents and cybercrime cases, which were dealt with firmly.
“We observed that due to the lockdown and work from home facilities, fraudsters got plenty of options to cheat people online, leading to increase in cybercrime cases,” Sajjanar added.
Fatal mishaps come down by 23%
Fatal mishaps came down by 23 per cent while the overall road accidents saw a dip of 11 per cent in Cyberabad in 2020 compared to 2019.
Officials said this was mainly due to the Covid-19 lockdown in the months of April to July. Also, certain road safety interventions by the Cyberabad Traffic Police on vulnerable roads, focused enforcement and continuous education drives contributed in reducing fatalities on roads.
Cyberabad DCP (Traffic) SM Vijay Kumar said the highest number of road crashes was reported on national highways followed by Roads and Buildings roads and under the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation limits.
“In the last five years, over 11 lakh vehicles were registered in Cyberabad. There has been an increase in accidents on the Outer Ring Road due to sleepless driving by persons during the lockdown on account of scarcity of drivers and also due to long distance driving by people due to lack of public transportation,” Vijay Kumar said.
As per data, while 3,469 mishaps were reported in 2018, there were 3,313 mishaps in 2019 and 2,951 in 2020, a decrease of 11 per cent.
Officials said the maximum number of fatal accidents were between 6 pm and 12 am. This was due to drunk driving, over-speeding and reckless driving.
Based on road mishaps in the last three years, the Traffic police had identified 124 blackspots and proposals for remedial measures were submitted.
Fall in crime against women, children
The Cyberabad She Team received 1,811 complaints this year against 1,747 in 2018 and 2,383 in 2019. As many as 1,544 persons were caught for harassing women, which included 160 minors.
Women and Child Safety Wing DCP C Anasuya said there was a decrease of 18.66 per cent in cases of crime against women and a decrease of 12.24 per cent in cases of crime against children this year. Clarifying on reports that there was a rise in domestic violence cases during the lockdown, the DCP said the truth was the opposite, with decrease being observed with regard to domestic violence cases during the pandemic.
The DCP said due to the pandemic, there was a break in conducting awareness programmes. But the She Teams and Operation Smile teams continued their operations.
“We have sent proposals to increase the number of Dial-100 domestic violence immediate response patrol teams and Operation Smile Teams in 2021,” she added.
Also Read
Hyderabad: Crime rate in Rachakonda down by 12 percent in 2020
Now you can get handpicked stories from Telangana Today on Telegram everyday. Click the link to subscribe.
Click to follow Telangana Today Facebook page and Twitter .
