VIJAYAWADA: Director General of Police K Rajendranath Reddy has said the law and order situation in the State is getting better, as evident from the crime statistics over the years released by the National Crime Records Bureau.
In a press release issued on Tuesday, the DGP said riot cases reduced from 492 in 2019 to 444 in 2021, and the number of murders came down to 956 in 2021 from 1,175 in 2014.
“The number of kidnapping cases in the State was 1,066 in 2014 and in 2021, it was only 835. The number of ‘missing children deemed as kidnapped’ reduced from 88 in 2019 to 66 in 2021 and kidnapping for ransom cases reduced from 15 in 2019 to 9 in 2021,” he said.
The DGP said crime against SCs and STs too saw a decrease in 2021, compared to 2014. Through awareness campaigns and drives, the government has been encouraging the downtrodden to report every crime against them, he clarified.
The State police chief said that the government has accorded top-most priority to the welfare and protection of SCs and STs. As against Rs 52.32 crore monetary benefits to SC and ST victims during 2014-19, Rs 120 crore was spent during 2019-22.
On crime against women, the DGP said there has been a decrease in the number of cases. In 2017, crime against women was 17,909 whereas it was 17,752 in 2021.“Compared to neighbouring States such as Telangana and Kerala, the crime rate against women (crimes per lakh population) in Andhra was less. While it was 67.2 per cent in our State, it was 111.2 per cent in Telangana and 73.3 per cent in Kerala,” he pointed out.
The DGP said the change in the overall number of crimes against women when compared to 2019 is nearly 0, while the total crime against women reported in 2019 was 17,746 and in 2021 it is 17,752. The number of rapes reported has also not seen any increase from 2019 to 2021. Murder with rape or gang rape has significantly reduced from 6 in 2019, 5 in 2020 to 2 in 2021.
The police chief maintained that dowry deaths have seen a declining trend and assaults on women have also reduced by nearly 8 per cent. He said there has been no large change in crime against children from 2020. The DGP said the number of cases of assault on girl children reduced from 513 in 2020 to 492 in 2021.
FARMER SUICIDES DOWN FROM 628 IN 2019 TO 481 IN ’21
The DGP said there has been a decreasing trend in suicides of persons engaged in the farming sector, which came down from 628 in 2019 to 564 in 2020 to 481 in 2021. He said custodial deaths decreased from 8 in 2020 to 6 in 2021. POCSO Act cases reduced from 502 in 2019 to 466 in 2021, which is a nearly 7 per cent decrease.