The city has registered a total of 12,627 criminal offences in 2023, of which only 3,603 cases were been detected, according to data released by the Bengaluru city police on Wednesday.
While the number of criminal offences have steadily risen over the past two years, the detection rate has fallen. Detection rate in these cases in 2023 has been 28.5%, while it was 45% in 2022. Motor vehicle theft topped the list of these offences with 5,909 cases.
The city saw a rise in the number of murders by 31% from 173 in 2022 to 207 in 2023, of which 202 cases have been detected. However, most of these murders were due to sudden provocation, illicit affairs, family issues, personal enmity among other reasons - murders which the police cannot prevent. Murders for gain, which reflects policing in the city, has come down drastically from a whopping 17 in 2022 to two in 2023 and both of them have been cracked. However, rowdy-related murders, another litmus test for policing, has shot up from four in 2022 to seven in 2023.
Compared to the previous year, there is a 41% rise in robbery cases as well in 2023. However, of the 673 robbery cases, 385 (57%) of them were mobile-snatching cases. Chain-snatching cases have also seen a marginal rise from 151 to 153.
Cases related to molestation saw a steep rise with 1,135 cases reported in 2023 compared to 731 cases in 2022. This, according to the police, was due to better reporting of cases. Crimes against women total to 3,260 cases, including 176 rape cases. However, of these rape cases, 115 cases were related to promise of love/marriage and in most cases the accused were known to the victim. Only in three cases were the accused unknown to the victim. Of the crimes against women, expectedly, cases registered under Dowry (Prohibition) Act and over cruelty by husband and his relatives tops the list with 1,007 cases. Police have also booked 161 cases under the Immoral Trafficking Act.
The city registered a total of 631 crimes against children in 2023, up from 561 cases the previous year. Of these, a majority of the cases 560 of them were under The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, up from 480 in 2022. Though the detection rate among POCSO Act, 2012 cases has been good and stands at 96% even in 2023 - 538 of 560 cases detected, it has dipped from 99% over the last two years. While six cases have been booked over child marriage, four cases were booked over child labour. A total of 40 cases were booked under Juvenile Justice Act.
