By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 8 Aug: The RTI response to a query by Uttarakhand Police has revealed that, in 2023, 11,952 criminal cases were registered by Police, while 4408 cases were closed by filing a final report. Action on ensuring punishment to the accused was taken in about 50 percent of 6,027 cases by filing a chargesheet. What is surprising is the fact that many of the cases closed by filing a final report are of serious crimes including murder, rape, robbery and kidnapping.
This was revealed in a response given on one RTI query. It had sought information from Uttarakhand Police Headquarters regarding the details of crimes registered in the year 2023. In response to this, Public Information Officer / Additional Superintendent of Police (Personnel), Shahjahan Javed Khan of Police Headquarters and Deputy Superintendent of Police, CCTNS, Vivek Singh Kutiyal has provided a verified photo copy of the details of registered crimes of the year 2023.
According to the details made available, a total of 11,952 crimes were registered in the year 2023. The crimes in question include 183 murders, 48 dowry murders, 1267 kidnappings, 421 rapes, 799 riots, 4482 cases of theft, 1520 motor/auto vehicle thefts, 523 burglaries, 195 robberies, 11 dacoities and 2503 other IPC crimes. However, as against the cases registered, the Police were able to take the cases to due conclusion in only about 50 percent of the registered cases. These cases included 66 percent of 120 cases of registered murder cases, 75 percent of 40 cases of dowry murder, 10 percent of 123 cases of kidnapping, 68 percent of 287 cases of rape, 53 percent of 287 cases of riots, 58 percent of 2,586 cases of theft, 45 percent of 682 cases of motor/auto vehicle theft, 72 percent of 376 cases of burglary, 82 percent of 159 cases of robbery, 64 percent of 7 cases of dacoity and 49 percent of 1228 cases of other crimes . Only these cases have been solved and the punishment granted by the courts on the basis of the chargesheets filed by the Police.
However, what comes as a shock is the fact that, in 2023, police have filed the final report in a total of 4,408 cases in which they have not been successful in tracing the criminals. They include serious crimes such as 34 cases of murders, 3 cases of dowry murders, 1067 kidnappings, 116 cases of rapes, 196 cases of riots, 1,737 thefts, 663 auto/motor vehicle thefts, 100 cases of burglary, 27 robberies, 1 dacoity and 464 other IPC crimes.
As against the cases registered in the year 2023, a total of 7,316 persons were arrested by the police. This includes 205 murder accused, accused in 40 dowry murders, accused in 140 kidnappings, accused in 315 rapes, accused in 345 riots, accused in 3948 thefts, accused in 1082 auto/motor vehicle thefts, accused in 634 burglary, accused in 308 robberies, accused in 48 dacoities and 251 other persons in other cases of crime.
According to the information made available by the Police in the year 2023, property worth Rs 47.61 crores was stolen in crimes in Uttarakhand, while property worth Rs 24. 93 crores was recovered by the police. In this, property worth Rs 20.82 crores was stolen in theft crimes, property worth Rs 10.75 crores in burglary crimes, Rs 1.05 crores in robbery crimes and property worth Rs 14.97 crores in dacoity cases.
