MillenniumPost
Delhi

'Pending cases rose by over 4% in 2021 compared to last year'

Pending cases rose by over 4% in 2021 compared to last year
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New Delhi: Pending cases in Delhi increased by over four per cent in 2021 with 94,419 such cases under police investigation compared to 90,697 in 2020, according to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data.

According to it, the pendency percentage in Delhi was 24.8 per cent while the charge sheet rate was 30 per cent.

The Delhi Police were investigating 3,79,758 cases lodged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in 2021, including 90,697 pending cases from the year before.

Of these, 2,85,142 cases were disposed of by the police while 94,419 cases were pending at the end of 2021. Delhi accounts for 21.7 per cent of all pending cases in 19 metropolitan cities, according to the data.

The Delhi Police has, however, held the pandemic responsible for the high pendency of the cases.

"The police were involved in other social activities during the pandemic. Apart from this, the Delhi courts were also closed during the period. Courts were handling cases online. So, final reports of the charge sheet were not being taken while the courts were hearing specific cases online," a senior police official said.

According to NCRB data, 197 cases were quashed at the investigation stage in 2021.

Only six cases were transferred to other state or investigation agencies in 2021 as compared to 140 the previous year.

There was also a slight drop in cases that ended as a mistake of fact or law or Civil dispute. In 2020, as many as 36,158 cases were ended while in 2021, only 35716 such cases were reported.

Delhi also reported the highest 2,618 crimes committed by juveniles among all 19 metropolitan cities. This accounts for over 44 per cent of such crimes in 19 cities.

The latest NCRB data also revealed that Delhi is the most unsafe for senior citizens among all metropolitan cities in India accounting for over 27 per cent of total crimes committed against people aged 60 years and above in these cities, according to the latest NCRB data.

Moreover, the national capital has also witnessed a 28.69 per cent surge in crime against senior citizens in 2021 as compared to the previous year with 1,166 cases registered by the police, the data of the NCRB showed.

In 2020, 906 crimes against senior citizens were reported in the national capital. The charge sheet rate in cases involving such people is also quite low in Delhi at 31.5 per cent.

After Delhi, Mumbai also reported a high number of crimes against senior citizens (987). As many as 4,264 cases of various crimes against senior citizens were reported in 19 metropolitan cities in 2021.

Among the crimes against senior citizens, theft is the most common with 659 cases reported in Delhi in 2021, followed by cheating and fraud (153).

In 2021, Delhi Police investigated 2,318 cases of crimes against senior citizens, out of which 1,152 were pending investigation from the previous year, NCRB data shows.

The police disposed of 1,143 cases of crimes against such people in 2021, it added.

Experts believe that higher reporting of such cases and zero sensitisation for the needs of elders might be the reasons for the higher crime rate against senior citizens in Delhi.

"Delhi has a higher density of older people. Nearly 15 per cent of our population is older people. Moreover, police in the capital are quite active and sensitive about older people so there is higher reporting of crimes," said Himanshu Rath, founder of Agewell Foundation.

"However, there is zero sensitisation among people for the need of elders in society. Moreover, the pandemic might also lead to the rise in the abuse of the older people," he added.

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