With the lowest cognizable crime rate recorded by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) in 2020, Kolkata once again ranks first as the country’s safest city to live in in 2020.
Kolkata has a score of 129.5, which measures cognizable offenses recorded per million people, putting it at the top of the list. It is followed by Hyderabad (233), Mumbai (318.6) and Bengaluru (401.9) with a national average of 810.3 crimes.
The city was compared with eighteen others with more than 2 million inhabitants to arrive at this ranking. Kolkata has maintained its high score for three years in a row, except in 2019, when the state’s records reached the authority late, according to the authority.
Kolkata secured the top position both in IPC (offences under the Indian Penal Code) with a score of 109.9 and in cases registered under other state law (SLL offences) with a score of 19.6. Unlike any other city, Kolkata has managed to reduce its IPC crime rate from 139.5 in 2019 to 109.9 in 2020.
In 2017, Kolkata’s score was 141.2, while in 2016 it was 159.6, indicating a progressive decline. Over the past seven years, Kolkata’s crime rate has declined, with the total number of cases falling from 26,161 in 2014 to 18,277 in 2020.
The cumulative number of IPC offenses has also increased from 17,324 in 2019 to 15,517 in 2020, while SLL cases have seen an increase from 2,314 in 2019 to 2,760 in 2020. These numbers and high standing are indicators that the city is doing well in controlling violent crime. recorded only 53 cases of murder and 121 cases of attempted murder. In 2018, it reported 55 and 143 cases – as reported by the Times of India.
Delhi, in comparison, recorded 461 murders and 562 attempted murders. Mumbai also recorded 168 murders and 348 attempts, while Kolkata recorded 11 rapes (down from 14 in 2018 and 15 in 2017). 160 cases of assault on women were recorded with 37 cases of sexual harassment.
On the other hand, 942 cases of assault with 322 cases of sexual harassment were reported in Delhi. The only better performing metro of all in this measure was Chennai with 33 cases of assault and 10 cases of sexual assault.
Although other cases were minimal, Calcutta had a huge number of “hurt cases” (crimes that caused serious injury), with the city exceeding the national figures with a total of 4,512 cases. This number, while so high, remained below its 2018 record of 6,439 cases.
It also continued its streak of being one of three cities in India (apart from Delhi and Chennai) to experience two acid attacks. Its 13 forgery cases were also only slightly less than Delhi’s 32, but these cases were balanced by 17 FIRs related to nature and environment protection, showing that people in the city are aware of their surroundings.
This remarkable achievement was attributed to building “cutting-edge technology” and modernization and utilizing all available resources, a top Lalbazar official said. A senior officer of the detective department said, “Focusing the attention of the state government on creating infrastructure and additional manpower, increasing vigilance, both human and technological, night policing and extensive nakas (especially in the months of COVID), prevention of crimes against women. , among other things, have been very helpful in the prevention and detection of crime.”
“Whether it was the Maidan robbery or the ATM fraud case, we launched specific actions against crime and developed social awareness measures,” another CP said.
