More than 11,000 'bad characters' identified in 2020: Delhi Police

New delhi: The Delhi Police has identified more than 11,000 bad characters in the city. Police said that they keep tabs on these criminals to ensure that they are not involved in any criminal activities.

The data shows that (till mid-December 2020) that there were more than 11,000 BCs on record and the highest number was found in North East and Outer districts where more than 1,000 (each) BCs were identified.

The data further shows that there were more than 1,200 non-heinous cases where BCs were found involved whereas nearly 340 heinous cases were committed by criminals who were bad characters of different police

stations.

As per one official, the identification always helps in maintaining law and order in the city. "Through identification, we can know about those people who have a tendency to commit crimes or can be troublemakers for society. We keep tabs on their movements and also check what they are doing for a living," the official said adding that if any BC is found to be absent from the jurisdiction of a police station, they also trace his current

location.

Another official said, "For declaring a criminal as a bad character of the area, we check his criminal history and also conduct an assessment on how much the person can harm the society." The general threshold for being declared a BC requires one to be involved in at least three or more crimes.

One official said during the investigation of a case, they probe various angles like the connection of habitual offenders with organized gangs or even terror groups. Many desperate criminals also work as shooters or informers for criminal gangs.

The data from last year showed that in Delhi, there are more than 1,700 people who are budding criminals and have committed crimes but do not have a criminal history long enough to be declared as bad

characters.

In one of the districts, there were over 350 criminals who were not bad characters but involved in crimes. In another district, there were more than 300 such criminals. There were three such districts where over 200 criminals (each) were identified. According to police, the promise of a lavish lifestyle, revenge and socio-economic circumstances are among common reasons for budding or novice criminals to take to crime.

Last year, in one of the crime review meetings, the Delhi Police Commissioner had told his officers that juveniles and budding criminals are seemingly increasing. "Juveniles, budding criminals be identified at early stages and wean them away from crime by utilising their energy and productivity in Yuva programmes," he had said.