Why Delhi is the most violent place in India

The national capital is known for many things like its unique culture, unique Mughal-era monuments like Humayun Tomb, Red fort, Qutub Minar, Jama Masjid, high population due to migrants from rest of the country, and also the street foods of chandni chowk but it brings us to shame when Delhi makes headlines all over the world of being the most violent place in India or a dangerous city for women. The question arises is it really the most violent place in India or the most dangerous place for women. If the answer is yes than what is that the city with over 9 million population is lacking? Is it the law and order situation, weak judicial system, back Government policies, or the mindset.

According to the Government's 2009 Crime in India report, Delhi is by far India's most unsafe major metropolis for women and children. Though it accounted for only 13.2% of all crimes committed in 35 "mega cities" across India in 2009, nearly 24% of total rape cases and almost 40% of cases of reported kidnapping and abduction of women were committed in the national capital.

Another shocking latest statistics of National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) reveals that 29 gruesome crimes cases were reported on an average daily in 2013. The heinous crimes included 3 robberies, rapes each, 17 incidents of abduction and a case of murder between January to December in 2013.

India a dangerous place for women

There has been not a single day in India and in Delhi particular when violence and crime against women like rape, sexual harassment, acid attack, dowry death have not been reported in the newspapers. According to a survey conducted by Thomson Reuters' Trustlaw Women, a hub of legal information and legal support for women's rights in 2011, India was placed as the fourth most dangerous place for women.
Afghanistan was found to be the most dangerous place for women followed by Democratic Republic of Congo, Pakistan, India and Somalia in the survey.

29 gruesome crimes cases were reported on an average daily in 2013

According to the survey, the high number of female foeticide, infanticide and human trafficking prevalent in India has placed it as the fourth most dangerous place for women in the world. "India ranked fourth primarily due to female foeticide, infanticide and human trafficking," the poll said.

In the state of Haryana alone the crime against women was recorded very high due to lowest sex ratio in the country. Women trafficked from States like Bihar, Bengal and Assam are forced to marry at a very young age in the State. The CBI has estimated that in 2009 about 90 per cent of trafficking took place within the country and that there were three million prostitutes, of which 40 per cent were children. Other forms of exploitation include forced labour and forced marriage.

"In India, upto 50 million girls were thought to be 'missing' over the past century due to female infanticide and foeticide," as per the UN Population Fund.

Nirbhaya incident

The December 2012 Nirbhaya incident brought the entire nation to a hault and was condemned by people all over the world. Serious questions were raised by the sociologist and people from different strata of society regarding the sexual violence against women to find out from where this kind of mindset originated in India. Unfortunately, India is still battling to curb such heinous crimes from our society.

Post the December16 incident, there have been a shocking 1000 rape cases registered in the city in the last 8 months. The statistics come to light after a number of efforts were made to ensure women's safety in the city and even stringent rape laws were implemented. According to latest UN reports, one in four men in Asia have committed rape at least once.

Hate crime incidents

Hardly a year passed to the Nirbhaya incident when another brutal incident of hate crime was reported in the national capital. This time it was students from North-East. People from North-East are often subject to racial abuse in the city and the Nido Taniam incident proved that racism is subtle and deeply rooted in Delhi. For example - people with oriental features are looked down upon. The lynch mob attack of the young student is only a reaffirmation of the alienation meted out to the North-East people throughout the history of our country. North-East has always been segregated from the rest of the country and not enough steps have been taken to sensitise the mainland Indians with North-East and vice versa as a result crime against them in Delhi has been rising continuously.

Many experts and sociologists believe that education is the need of the hour and can only help the Government and the society to curb such crimes. But in the past crimes like rape have been committed by people who have an educational background.

Delhi has a bad history of violence

Delhi has witnessed a violent history since the times of Mughals. Few who pass by the Khooni Darwaza on Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg in Central Delhi, know of its bloody history. Apart from history, there are several other reasons for Delhi's violence. The language of the people is so rough which provokes much of the conflict. This can observed in most of our Bollywood movies. The high level of competition has created survival of the fittest like situation, apart from rising frustration, urban alienation and coveting of wealth. It can be observed only in Delhi where a man can kill a man over chicken tikka.

According to newspaper reports few years back, a young software professional was allegedly shot dead by a 36-year-old man after he accidentally knocked off a plate of chicken tikka.

Delhi already know for its violent nature have also higher rates of crime than Maoist prone States like Chhattishgarh, Jharkhand. All these datas show nothing but dark truth of the dazzling streets of Delhi.