Pervez Iqbal Siddiqui, TNN Oct 30, 2011, 06.26AM IST
LUCKNOW: With an average of 12 murders, 17 kidnappings, 7 robberies, 13 burglaries and 85 thefts reported every 24 hours, Uttar Pradesh has topped the list of maximum number of cases of crime reported in 2010. However, the state has been rated as one of the safest states in the country.
The sharp contrast in the two observations is purely because of the fact that UP happens to be the biggest and most populous state in India. With a mid-year estimated population of 1990.28 lakh (as computed and used by the NCRB), UP has 900 lakh more people as compared to Maharashtra, the second most populous state.
While, Uttar Pradesh appears to be the most crime-infested state as per the NCRB statistics, the same agency, computing the criminality factor of the state (computed on the basis of crime per lakh of population) states that UP is the 'third-most safe' state in the country to live in. It is not surprising that while the nation witnessed an overall increase of 4.9% in crime incidents, Uttar Pradesh saw a marginal increase of 0.7%.
However, criminality ranking though comes as a blessing in disguise for a populous state like Uttar Pradesh, it is a curse for states with lesser population. "Suppose 100 murders take place in a city, which has a population of 10 lakh and during the same period, 11 murders take place in a city which has a population of 1 lakh. On the face of it the city with 10 lakh population may appear to be more crime prone, than the one with 1 lakh population but in terms of percentage, the crime scene in the two cities would be identical," says a senior IPS officer explaining the mathematics for determination of criminality factor of a region.
The NCRB statistics show an overall increase of 4.9 per cent in terms of total criminal cases lodged in 2010 as compared to the statistics of 2009. While murder attempts have shot up by 1.3%, incidents of rape have witnessed an increase of 3.6%. Similarly, kidnapping and abduction cases have increased by 13.5%, while robbery cases saw a 4.4% increase. Crime against women during 2010 (2,13,585) has gone up by 4.8% compared to 2009 (2,03,804), and crime against children has also gone up by 10.3% in 2010 (26,694) as compared to 2009 (24,201).
Interestingly, crime against Scheduled Castes declined by 2.6% in 2010 (32,712) compared to 2009 (33,594). However, crime against Scheduled Tribes during 2010 (5,885) has shown an increase of 8.5% as compared to 5,425 cases in 2009.
