Narcotics smuggling, motor vehicle theft cases on rise

Ajay Raina
JAMMU, Oct 20: The graph of narcotic and motor vehicle thefts, molestation and kidnapping cases have risen in the first nine months of this year as compared to the parallel period of last year.
Around 71 cases of NDPS Act have been registered against 37 registered till September 31, 2014, which shows that the smuggling of psychotropic substances has increased more than twice in the Jammu district in the nine months period of 2015.
However, the conviction ratio in cases pertaining to Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act is barely very less, primarily due to lack of evidence and failure of follow-up procedure by investigating agencies.
Apart from these two major reasons, the other factors leading to less rate of conviction are hostile witnesses, poor follow-up of recording statements or evidence and improper conditions of search procedure. In majority of the cases, the accused are acquitted on technical grounds because the concerned officials do not follow a proper procedure during investigation.
The cases of motor vehicle thefts have also increased to 223, which were 183 till the equivalent period of last year. Other theft cases have seen a downfall, as 100 cases have been registered against 110 registered last year till September ending.
The upward trend has been witnessed in molestation cases, which were 63 last year and in this year upto nine months they rose to 89. The kidnapping/ abduction cases have also witnessed a steep rise as the cases registered till September 30 this year are 171, which is around three times high as compared to the last year as 67 cases were registered in 2014 till September ending. 27 cases of eve-teasing have been registered in this year till September ending, which were 45 during the corresponding period of last year.
Not only the cases of psychotropic substances have increased, there is swell in the liquor smuggling cases also as 81 cases have been registered in the nine months period of this year as compared to 41 cases, which were registered in the same period of 2014.
According to the data available with the EXCELSIOR, a total of 3,427 cases of different nature have been registered during the first nine months period of this year, which were 3,400 during the corresponding period of previous year.
41 rape cases have been registered till September 30 this year, which were 53 till September 2014 and when it comes to murders, which is considered the yardstick of crime in a city, police have registered 16 cases under Section 302 RPC in this period of nine months as against 19 cases registered during the same period of last year.
Attempt to murder cases have registered an increase of 3 cases, as this year till September ending 68 cases have been registered, which were 65 during the equivalent period of last year.
As far as road accidents are concerned, 1015 have been registered till nine months period of this year, which were 1070 in the corresponding period of last year.
Two cases of Dacoity were registered as compared to 1 registered in the parallel period of nine months last year and cases of Hurt/Stabbing are 18, which were 11 in the period of nine month last year. Burglary cases have seen a steep downfall of 20 per cent as 177 cases have been registered in the nine months of this year, which were 233 in the corresponding period of last year.
Thirty Four cases of Rioting have been registered in the nine months of this year against 50 cases, which were registered in the equivalent period last year. 36 cases of Assault on Public Servants have been registered till ending September 2015, which were 29 till September 2014.
8 cases of Arms Act have been reported in the nine months of this year, which were 21 in the corresponding period of last year. 14 cases of Arson have been registered till September ending this year.
The dowry death cases registered are 3, whileas cheating cases have seen a fall to 93 as last year till September ending, 116 cases were registered. 77 cases of dowry demand have been registered during this nine months period of this year.
However, 3 cases of Counterfeiting, 11 case of Criminal Breach of Trust, 1 case of Copy Right/ Cinema G Act, 2 cases of 14/Forest Act 3/6 IPA, 7 cases of Essential Commodities Act, 3 cases of Forest Act, 1 case of Prop. Def. Act and 7 cases of other Local Special Law (LSL) have been reported this year till September.
When contacted, SSP Jammu, Uttam Chand, said that police have achieved major success in NDPS and Excise Acts cases by registering 71 and 81 cases respectively against the people involved in this illegal practices in the nine months period of this year which is almost 100 per cent against the figures till September last year.
He added the burglary cases have witnessed decline of 20 per cent this year as compared to the last September 2014, which is also a good work by the department towards controlling the crime.
“JKP in Jammu district will continue to put in its sincere efforts to control the graph of the crime and we hope that time is not far away, when crime cases will witness a steep decline from the previous years”, SSP asserted.