Kolkata has emerged as the safest of metro cities as per the 2020 data released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
The West Bengal capital has taken the top spot in terms of crimes that come under the ambit of IPC (Indian Penal Code) and those registered under other state law or SLL crimes. The place has also managed to reduce its IPC crime rate.
This is the third time that Kolkata has occupied the position of the safest city according to NCRB data, with 2019 being an exception because, the bureau said, the state records reached it late.
These rankings arrived at after comparing the city against 18 others with over two million population.
Hyderabad, Mumbai, and Bengaluru stand in second, third, and fourth positions. Kolkata has recorded the lowest rate of cognizable offenses and a score of 129.5, whereas Hyderabad has 233, Mumbai 318.6, and Bengaluru 401.9. The national average stands at a whopping 810.3.
Although Kolkata fared well in containing violent crime and other types of cases, the incidence of “hurt cases” was high, and the city topped national figures in this respect. However, it was still lower than what had been recorded in 2018. Kolkata’s crime rate has been seeing a decline for the past seven years.
The achievement with declining crime rates is to be credited to “cutting-edge technology”, quoted a top officer from Lalbazar to TOI.
NRCB, on the other hand, found Delhi to be the most unsafe city for women, with the most crimes committed against them. The India Capital also had the highest number of violent crimes among the metropolitan cities. This stands even though the overall crime rate dipped in the city, partly due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Earlier, the fourth edition of the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) Safe Cities Index 2021 had only New Delhi and Mumbai in the top 50. In the list, Copenhagen came in the first place, followed by Toronto and Singapore.
Seventy-seven rape cases every day, 80 murder incidents daily on an average, and 84,805 cases of kidnapping and abduction were lodged in 2020, stated the NRCB report.
Likewise, of the 61,767 environment-related offenses registered in 2020, the noise pollution-related offenses (7,318) remained on the second spot under the category at the all-India level and in many states. The cigarette and tobacco-related cases remained on top in the category.