The Hindu

MANGALORE, Jan 31: Though there is a drop in cases of burglary and robbery in Dakshina Kannada district, cases of cheating, murder and crimes against women have registered an increase.

Giving a powerpoint presentation to the media here on Monday, Superintendent of Police B. Dayananda stated that cases of robbery had come down to 23 in 2005 against 39 in 2004 (detected). House breaking and theft (HBT) by day has also shown a drop of 24 per cent from 16 detected cases in 2004 to three in 2005.

House theft has also shown a decrease of 16 per cent than in 2004 when it was 16 cases detected.

Number of cases of counterfeit currency stood at six in 2004, but in 2005, Mr. Dayananda stated, it was only three (detected) cases, which is a 50 per cent drop.

Continuous rise

The most disturbing was the crimes against women, which has shown an increase of 26 per cent. Crimes against women have shown continuous rise since 2003. That year, 178 cases were reported. In 2004, the number went up to 207. But in 2005, crimes against women increased sharply with 257 reported cases and true cases were 253. This shows an increase of 26 per cent between 2004 and 2005.

Cases of cheating have shown a 41 per cent increase. Mr. Dayananda said though the number of cases was small, the increase was disturbing. The number of true cases in 2004 was just 61 which has increased to 86 cases in 2005.

Marginal increase

Motor vehicle theft has also shown a marginal increase in percentage at five per cent. The number of true cases in the district was 126 in 2005 as against 120 in 2004. Ordinary thefts have also shown a marginal increase of four per cent between 2004 and 2005.

There was an increase of 11 per cent in the "cognisable offences" in the district. The number of true cognisable offences stood at 5,095 in 2004 which went up to 5,643 in 2005, Mr. Dayananda said.

The number of murders has also shown a drastic increase from 23 detected cases in 2004 to 32 detected cases in 2005.