Contrary to speculation, crime drops as cities expand in K'taka

Hameed Ashraf | NT

Bengaluru: As the cities grow in size, incidents of crime grow even faster. However, police-recorded data and reports from the Crime Records Bureau have shown a sharp and significant drop in crime figures in the last two decades in Karnataka.

In 1991, a total of 1,04,489 cases were recorded as Cognizable Crimes Under IPC sections while in 1992, the number of such crimes in Karnataka had come down to 99,679.

As the cities and semi-urban areas in the state began to develop with better quality of life and higher incomes, people began to migrate to cities causing an imbalance in the supply and demand scenario of basic resources due to overpopulation.

An imbalance in society often leads to competition, rivalry and in turn insecurity. One among the appalling manifestations of this insecurity was the rise in crime here. It is worth noting that the state had less number of personnel, police stations and technology at that time.

In 1995, the Karnataka police recorded 8,77,597 Cognizable Crimes Under Special and Local Laws (SLL). Now, the Karnataka State Police Force has 1,05,440 personnel actively working in different law enforcement departments including traffic.

Recently, the Congress government decided to induct an additional 2,977 officers in the ministerial staff, 873 in technical staff and another 229 members on a contract basis. Still, ensuring public safety is a major challenge for policemen as the criminals have evolved with the generation.

According to a study, only 6 to 8 per cent of victims of theft in major cities lodged a first information report (FIR) with the police.

Most of the remaining cases are not reflected in any official record. According to the 2021 census, around 49 per cent of the total population is constituted by women in Karnataka who are worshipped in the form of 'Devi.'

But the study reveals that almost 98 per cent of eve-teasing, sexual assault and harassment cases are not even reported. In the year 2020, 1,06,350 cases were reported in the state and the following year, 1,15,728 cases were reported, according to the KSRP data.

As per the review of the current year, the state police records show 456 murder cases reported until April 2023. The last few years saw a spike in other crimes such as cyber fraud, robbery, crime against women and political crimes among others.

The rising crime may be attributed to widening inequality, poverty, improper urban planning, the ever-increasing burden on urban infrastructure, proliferation of slums and poor neighbourhoods.

In short, to keep the crime graph in check, there is a need to strengthen the judiciary and legal system to avoid cases going unreported due to various reasons.