CHENNAI: Debunking the DMK’s charges about the law and order situation in Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Monday clarified that maintaining law and order, public peace and crime rate are different things since all incidents that affect law and order would not have an impact on public peace. The incidents that affect public peace need not affect the overall safety of the State, she added.
“The report of the Third Police Commission constituted in the year 2006 has dealt with law and order in detail and given the above explanation. The DMK men who boast about constituting three police commissions had failed to understand the report given by them,” the Chief Minister said, replying to the discussion on the demand for grants for Police Department in the State Assembly.
She also pointed out that the crime rate had been increasing at the national level due to various reasons which included increasing population, growth of information technology, changing social scenario and urbanisation.
However, as far Tamil Nadu was concerned, due to stringent action taken against the culprits, the crime rate had come down, she added.
Public peace and law and order were key factors for economic growth, Jayalalithaa said and pointed out that the crime rate had come down in Tamil Nadu during the past five years, reeling out statistics to bring home point.
She also compared the crime rate during the previous DMK regime and explained how the situation had improved.
Pointing out that the case relating to the attempted attack on DMK treasurer M K Stalin on June 13, 2006, remained unresolved, the Chief Minister said, “I had never said law and order had deteriorated in the State based on such incidents.”
The number of murders in 2005, i.e., at the end of the previous AIADMK regime, stood at 1,366. This had gone up at the end of the DMK regime to 1,715. Now, this year, it has come down to 1,641.
“Most of these murders had taken place due to previous enmity, family disputes, love affairs, land disputes, for money transaction etc., Only a few murders took place for other reasons. If the people come forward to lodge complaints about the above incidents of previous enmity, family disputes etc., the police can take preventive steps to avoid any crime. However, police department has been taking steps to contain such crimes,” Jayalalithaa said.
Similarly, the number of murder for gains which stood at 74 in 2005, increased to 153 in 2010 and in 2015, it had come down to 107. In 2015, 1,763 robbery cases were booked. This year, till June 30, 847 robbery cases had been booked. When compared to the situation in DMK regime, robbery cases had come down by 2.97 percent.
During 2015, in Tamil Nadu, 11,196 theft cases had been booked and this year till June 30, 5,868 theft cases had been booked. Compared to the situation in DMK regime, the number of theft cases had come down by 23.23 per cent, the Chief Minister pointed out.