Serious crime dips across nation but Capital still most unsafe for women, kids

Delhi remained the most unsafe city for women and children in 2015 but nationwide, serious crime dipped by a significant 5%.

Delhi remained the most unsafe city for women and children in 2015, but serious crime nationwide dipped by a significant 5%.

Commuters walk inside a metro station in New Delhi. (AFP file photo)

The national crime statistics released on Tuesday reveal that there were fewer murders, rapes and robberies across the country in 2015 as compared to the previous year. The national capital, however, wasn’t getting any safer.

Delhi, along with Maharashtra, was among the few states where rapes showed no sign of a decline.

The increase in rapes was 4% in the Capital. But this is already a city where women are four times more likely to be raped than, on average, anywhere else in the country.

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Across the country, murders (32,127 in 2015), rapes (34,651) and robberies (36,188) declined by an average of around 5% as compared to the previous year. Overall, crimes against women decreased from 3.37 lakh cases in 2014 to 3.27 lakh. Crimes where children were the victims went up from 89,000 to 94,000.

It is rare for crime figures to come down, particularly when police forces are short of boots on the ground. And the endlessly long trials ensure that stiff jail terms stipulated in the law are hardly a deterrent.

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