Crimes against Delhi women increased in 2003: Police

Incidents of rape and molestation increased in 2003 over the previous year, the Delhi police chief admitted.

Crimes against women are increasing in the Capital, Police Commissioner RS Gupta admitted on Monday.

HT Image

Incidents of rape, molestation and extortion increased in 2003 over the previous year, although overall heinous crimes declined by eight per cent and non-heinous ones by four per cent, Gupta said.

Addressing an annual press conference, he said police did not allow terrorists to carry out their plans of striking in the capital for the second successive year by killing five ultras, four of them Pakistani nationals, and arresting 29 others belonging to Lashker-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and other outfits.

Talking about crimes against women, Gupta specially referred to the infamous October 14 Swiss diplomat rape case which caused a lot of embarrassment not only to the police force but also the entire country.

The case has been "taken up with all sincerity by Delhi Police. It has now been entrusted to a Special Investigating Team (SIT) headed by an experienced officer of the rank of Additional Commissioner of Police to take each and every clue to a logical conclusion and solve it at the earliest possible, the Commissioner said.

When pointed out that the case had made no progress even after passage of nearly three months, Gupta said "you cannot bind investigation by time. Investigators need a fair time to probe."

"We have not given up hope and are pursuing the case," he added.