The passing year was a transformative one for the Delhi police as it embraced the new criminal laws — Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) replaced the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Bharatiya Nagarika Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) replaced Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and Bharatiya Sakshya Bill (BSB) replaced Indian Evidence Act (IEA).

The year 2014 also witnessed several incidents that shook people, including the killing of a businessman while he was on a morning walk in east Delhi, the firing at the GTB hospital where miscreants entered the hospital ward and shot a person due to mistaken identity.

Advertisement

Even the incident at an east Delhi child care centre which claimed lives of newborns was a result of criminal negligence, while the three civil services aspirants who died of drowning in a study centre’s basement in the month of July.

However, the city also witnessed a little decrease in cases of crime against women, owing to a comprehensive set of measures initiated by the Delhi Police through a combination of technology and conventional methods.

According to police data from January 1 to November 30, the cases of rape in the city declined by 10.36 per cent, from 2,141 cases in 2023 to 1,919 this year. Molestation cases also witnessed a drop by 19.10 per cent, that is from 2,345 in 2023 to 1,897 this year.

Additionally, eve-teasing cases decreased by 9.97 percent, from 381 in 2023 to 343 this year. Most notably, human trafficking cases plummeted by 42.37 per cent, from 59 in 2023 to just 34 this year.

With the Delhi legislative assembly polls round the corner, the police have intensified efforts against illegal voters, and also deported illegally residing Bangladeshi immigrants.

There has been a rise in cyber crime during the past year. Delhi police has been making people aware through various ways with regard to the ways cyber fraudsters approach gullible people.

Meanwhile, this year also witnessed a series of hoax bomb threats that haunted the authorities, a problem which still persists. On May 3, such threats were received by around 200 schools and institutions in the capital city. Many city hospitals and airports were also targeted in a similar fashion.

During this period, questions were also raised about the functioning of the Delhi police.

In the crackdown against the menace of drugs, the police on October 2 made one of the biggest drug hauls with the seizure of over 560 kilograms of cocaine estimated to be worth around Rs 2,000 crore from a warehouse in Mehrauli, South Delhi.

Additionally, on October 18, around 200 kg of cocaine that belonged to the same syndicate was also seized from an unused shop in Ramesh Nagar area of west Delhi.

Following this, a comprehensive operation against the drug peddlers was initiated on instructions from LG that continued till the end of the year, resulting in the arrest of several peddlers and seizure of drugs.