NCRB report: Mixed bag for Telangana, Hyderabad
The National Crime Records Bureau’s annual ‘Crime in India’ report for the year 2021 has come as a mixed bag for Telangana and for Hyderabad. With the report showing that while there was a surge in some categories of crime here, there were some areas where there was a considerable dip,
Hyderabad: The National Crime Records Bureau’s annual ‘Crime in India’ report for the year 2021 has come as a mixed bag for Telangana and for Hyderabad too, with the report showing that while there was a surge in some categories of crime here, there were some areas where there was a considerable dip, and in fact with Telangana or Hyderabad being better placed compared to some other metro cities.
Minors committing crimes, categorized as Juveniles in Conflict with law, for instance was one area where Telangana and Hyderabad fared better in 2021 compared to 2019. Across the State, this category, which had 1,352 cases in 2019, saw a dip in 2021 with the number being 1,152. In Hyderabad, the same saw a sharp dip, with 350 cases in 2019 and 197 in 2021.
Crime against children, however, saw a rise in Hyderabad in 2021, with 621 cases last year as against 506 in 2019. However, the city had a lesser count when compared to Bengaluru (1,342 cases in 2021) and Ahmedabad (691). Across the State, the same category saw 5,667 cases in 2021, as against 4,212 in 2019. The number of cases for 2021 of crime against children in Karnataka was 7,261 while in 2019, it was 6,305 there.
Economic offences, which include crimes like criminal breach of trust, counterfeiting, forgery, cheating and fraud, saw a jump in most States and cities across the country. Telangana saw a huge jump of economic offences in 2021, compared to both 2019 and 2020, with last year seeing 20,759 cases as against 11,465 in 2019 and 12,985 in 2020. The State was second behind Rajasthan, which had 23,757 cases in 2021.
Among metro cities, Hyderabad was slightly better placed when it came to economic offences, registering 4,860 cases in 2021, which was still a jump from the 1,895 registered in 2019. The city was behind Mumbai (5,671) and Delhi City (5,102) though. Interestingly, 4,673 out of the 4,860 cases in Hyderabad pertained to forgery, cheating and fraud (IPC Sections 420, 465, 468, 471, 231- 243, 255 and 489A to 489E) while criminal breach of trust and counterfeiting made up for the rest.
Crime against women was another area where there was an increase in Hyderabad and across the State as well. Hyderabad recorded 3,050 cases in 2021 as against 2,755 in 2019. The situation was slightly better compared to some other metros like Bengaluru (3127 in 2021 and 3486 in 2019) and Mumbai (5543 in 2021 and 6519 in 2019). Delhi City had the highest crime against women, with 13,982 in 2021 and 12,902 in 2019.
One of the most concerning areas, as it has been in the last four years, was cybercrime, with the pandemic said to have contributed in a major extent, helping cyber crooks in different ways. Telangana had the highest number of cases as per the NCRB report, with 10,303 in 2021, as against 2,691 in 2019 and 5,024 in 2020. The charge-sheeting rate was low at 16.4 per cent, given the fact that most of the cyber crooks were out of Telangana and in some cases, operating from foreign shores.
Hyderabad too saw a jump in cybercrime, with the figure of 1379 in 2019 rising to 2553 in 2020 and 3303 in 2021. Bengaluru, though it managed to bring down the numbers from 10,555 in 2019 to 6,423 in 2021, still had more cases than Hyderabad.
