The safest city for women now ranks second among 19 metropolitan cities for crime against women

A recent report disclosed by the National Crime Record Bureau’s (NCRB) Crime in India for the year 2020, stating that the crime against women was not less even during the pandemic. The city of Mumbai witnessed a high number of crimes against women with ranking only second to Delhi among the 19 metropolitan cities.

 

The situation of Covid waves and long- time of lockdowns didn’t stop the city from these crimes, and it reported 4,583 against 9,782 cases recorded in the National Capital. The term metropolitan city is given to those cities by the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) that have a population of more than 2 million. These crimes against women fall under various sections under state-level laws and the Indian Penal Code (IPC) which includes sections 354, 370 326A, 498A, and 376 among others. 

 

The National Capital recorded the highest number of crimes against women and also topped many categories of crimes registered with the city of Mumbai coming second. The city recorded the highest number of stalking cases in all the categories. The crime rate in this category is calculated per lakh of population, Mumbai with 58 cases coming after Bengaluru recording 63 cases and Chennai recording 40 cases. 

 

The Mumbai Police Commissioner Hemant Nagrale in a statement stated that the reason for the drop in Covid 19 cases for the year 2020 compared to 2019 in the city of Mumbai was due to lockdown being imposed in the city following the Covid 19 outbreak. In a way to improve women’s condition in the city of Mumbai, the Mumbai Police is taking a new initiative in the form of Nirbhaya squads. 

 

“There will be an arrangement of Nirbhaya squad in every police station, which will be headed by a female officer assisted by two constables and a driver with the dedicated vehicle. They will be identifying and patrolling hotspots that may be prone to incidences of such crime against women,” stated the IPS officer