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Journalism of Courage
There has been a five-fold jump in the number of pending complaints and cases lodged with Delhi Police between January and March this year as compared to last year. Officials Sunday said most complaints are of street crime and personal disputes.
While senior police officers had directed district commissioners to submit weekly and monthly reports about street crimes and preventive action, many cases still remain pending.
According to data accessed by The Indian Express, from January 1 to March 25 this year, a total of 1,05,432 complaints were lodged with police and 60,140 complaints are pending. Though the complaints have decreased this year, pendency continues to grow.
Last year, in the same period, over 1,10,488 complaints were lodged and 10,791 complaints were pending. Similarly, in 2021, over 1,33,413 complaints were lodged and 8,189 complaints were pending.
This year, more than 57% of complaints are pending compared to 6% in 2021 and 9% in 2022. According to the Delhi Police’s complaints portal, most of the complaints (98%) are lodged offline through calls, letters and at stations. Only 1-2% are lodged through Delhi Police’s website.
A senior police officer, who refused to be named, said, “It’s difficult to bifurcate between complaints at times. Also, officers are guided to look at bigger cases or heinous cases first. The leftover complaints are mostly of petty street crime, thefts or fights between neighbours. Our investigating teams focus more on murder, robbery, arms, rape and other such cases.”
As per data, there is an increase in pending cases through the years. From 2022 to 2023, there is a notable increase of 500% in pending cases. From 2021 to 2022, the increase is 25%.
However, senior officers at the PHQ said the data may not be sufficient as there are pending cases from previous years as well. “Some of the solved or disposed of cases are from previous weeks, months or years. We have to see the date of each case and when it is solved. There could be an increase because we are taking old cases into account,” said an officer.
Officers in districts said there are pending complaints in cases of feuds or minor thefts. “There are double complaints or calls about the same case. We register complaints but later take only one case forward,” added the officer.
The Delhi Police spokesperson and Vigilance Department refused to comment on the data and increasing pendency saying the data is not sufficient.
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