Delhi had the highest incidence of murder, rape and abduction among 19 cities with populations more than 2 million, national crime data for the year 2016, released on November 30, 2017, show.

Further, Delhi also reported the highest crime rate (1,222.5 crimes per 100,000 population) under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), according to data published by the National Crime Records Bureau. Delhi was followed by Kochi (757.9) and Jaipur (756.5), data show.

Delhi accounted for nearly 39% of all crimes under the IPC reported in cities in 2016, followed by Bengaluru (9%) and Mumbai (8%). IPC crimes in Delhi increased 43% in two years from 139,707 in 2014 to 199,445 in 2016.

Source: Crime In India, 2016: National Crime Records Bureau

As many as 2,194 murders were reported across 19 cities in India, down 6% over 2014. Delhi reported the most--479 murders in 2016, with a murder rate of 2.9 per 100,000 population. Patna, the capital of Bihar, reported the highest rate of murder (9.5) with 195 cases in 2016, a 5% decline over 2014.

Kidnapping & abduction up 30% in two years

Kidnapping and abduction cases across metro cities increased 30%--to 15,041 in 2016 from 11,589 in 2014. Delhi reported the most (5,925) kidnapping and abduction cases in 2016, 16 every day, followed by Mumbai (1,949) and Bengaluru (974).

Patna reported the highest rate for kidnapping and abduction in 2016--40.2 cases per 100,000 population, against the national average of 13.2. Patna was followed by Delhi (36.3) and Lucknow (31.9).

As many as 13,803 crimes (IPC and special & local laws) against women were reported in Delhi, or 38 every day, topping the list in terms of cases and crime rate (182.1 crimes per 100,000 women), against the national average of 77.2. Delhi was followed by Mumbai (5,128 cases). Crimes against women across 19 cities increased 9% from 38,385 in 2014 to 41,761 in 2016.

Cruelty by husband or his relatives (29%) was the major crime reported against women in 2016, followed by assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty (25%), kidnaping & abduction (22%) and rape (12%).

Delhi had most cases of cruelty by husband or his relatives (3,645), followed by Hyderabad (1,311) and Jaipur (1,008). In terms of crime rate, Jaipur was the worst at 69.5 crimes per 100,000 women, as against the national average of 22.6.

Delhi topped the list for most (1,996) rapes reported among 19 cities in 2016, or five every day. The city also ranked first in terms of crime rate (26.3 cases per 100,000 women) for rape, against the national average of 9.1, followed by Jaipur (22.8) and Indore (17.2).

Delhi reported the most (144) dowry deaths with a crime rate of 1.9 crimes per 100,000 women in 2016. Patna was the worst in terms of crime rate (7.9) against the national average of 0.9, followed by Kanpur (3.7) and Lucknow (3).

Besides the 515,635 crimes reported under the IPC across the 19 metropolitan cities, 2016 also saw 295,002 crimes reported under special and local laws (SLL) -- such as Motor Vehicle Act, Land Revenue Act and Money Lenders Act and acts related to crimes against women and children -- bringing the total to 808,637 crimes, an increase of 6.5% over 2015.

Kochi reported the highest crime rate (2,553.1 crimes per 100,000 population), including both IPC and SLL crimes. Kochi was followed by Nagpur (1,714.6), Chennai (1,308.6), Delhi (1,263.9) and Surat (1,243.3).

(Mallapur is an analyst with IndiaSpend.)

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Chaitanya Mallapur

    Chaitanya has a masters degree in politics from the University of Mumbai and a bachelor's degree in computer science. His areas of interest are foreign policy and security studies. He has also worked with ET NOW, a business news channel, as an assistant producer in the digital team.