Amid rising corona curve, crime graph takes a dip in Haryana

Murders and other heinous crimes have registered a sharp fall in Haryana during April this year, amid the rising coronavirus-infection curve and the ensuing lockdown.

While he number of murders committed in the state in April 2020 stood at 49, nearly half of murder cases registered in the corresponding month of 2019, other heinous crimes too have registered a sharp fall in the month, said Haryana police on Thursday.

The stepped up and round-the-clock vigil by police personnel, placement of inter-state and inter-district nakas and enhanced patrolling together with reduced scope of movement in public places have resulted in an impressive and unprecedented fall under most heads of crime during April 2020, the Haryana Police Department said in a statement.

The statement quoting Director General of Police Manoj Yadava said during April 2020, the number of murder cases in state went down to 49, compared to 94 in April 2019, registering 47.9 per cent fall.

The cases of causing hurt, both simple and grievous ones, went down from 221 in April 2019 to 149 in April this year, resulting in a fall of 32.6 per cent, the statement said.

There was a big, 76.7 per cent fall in cases of wrongful confinement of persons which went down from 965 in April 2019 to 225 in April 2020.

Similarly, as far as the crime against property is concerned, there has been a 35 per cent decline in the number of burglary cases in April 2020 as only 358 cases were registered as compared to 556 cases in April 2019.

The number of theft cases went down from 1,961 in April 2019 to just 355 in April 2020.

The cases of motor vehicle theft which stood at 1,424 in April 2019 came down to just 217 in April 2020.

However, certain categories of crime did not follow the declining trend, the statement said.

For example, the cases of unlawful assembly went up in the same period from 151 to 159 which is a result of the cases registered by police for violation of prohibitory orders (for violating lockdown) issued by various District Magistrates under section 144 of CrPC, it said.

There was a sharp spike in cases registered under section 188 of the IPC (disobedience to order duly promulgated by a public servant) as police registered 2,681 cases against various individuals for violating the lockdown orders.

The number of cases went up from just 26 in April 2019 to 2,681 in April 2020.

The cases of attempt to murder remained more or less the same with 62 cases registered in April 2020 as compared to 64 in April 2019.

The cases of dowry deaths too went down just by 2 cases, from 24 to 22, during the same period. The cases of fraud also did not see much decline as 287 cases were registered in April 2020 as compared to 293 cases in April 2019, as per the statement.