33% rise in crime on Delhi Metro, thieves hit 35 passengers per day

There has been a 33% rise in crime on the Delhi Metro premises, which includes trains, with 12,854 cases reported in 2017, compared to 9,621 in 2016.

Thirty-five Metro passengers fell prey to thieves and pickpockets every day in 2017, with wallets, cellphones and small bags topping the list of stolen items, Delhi Police data shows.

Delhi Metro carries 2.7 million passengers on a 230km-long network. (HT File Photo)

There has been a 33% rise in crime on the Delhi Metro premises, which includes trains, with 12,854 cases reported in 2017, compared to 9,621 in 2016.

The crime graph has kept pace with the increase in passenger load. There has been a 13-fold jump in crime on the Delhi Metro premises over the last five years during which the ridership rose from 1.92 million a day in 2012-13 to 2.76 million in 2016-17.

Pickpockets remain a menace, with women’s gangs operating freely.

A report by the Central Industrial Security Force, tasked with guarding the premises, in June said women’s gangs were responsible for more than 90% of such cases.

The offenders were often well-educated and difficult to profile, a police official said.

Big-ticket items, too, went missing. Fifty-seven vehicles were stolen from parking lots in 2017 against 31 the year before, shows the data.

Not just thefts, more women – 23 – were molested as against 15 such cases reported in 2016.

Special commissioner of police (operations, airport and Metro) Sanjay Baniwal attributed the spurt to e-filing of FIRs and the launch of new Metro police stations.

“More FIRs means that more people are making use of our free-and-fair registration initiative. The availability of e-FIRs even allows commuters to file their cases online,” Baniwal said, adding increased ridership and a widening network were contributing factors as well.

When it was launched, the Metro had just 40,000 passengers in 2002-03. It now carries 2.7 million passengers on a 230km-long network.

Serious offences such as murder, dacoity, robbery, rape and abductions were negligible. Only three such cases – two of robbery and one of rioting – were reported, compared to five in 2016 which also saw a murder.

Police have tasted some success as well. They solved around 21.5% cases in 2017 compared to just 3% in 2016.