Over 180 women held for pick-pocketing in Metro this year

New Delhi, Oct 13: Women constitute over 93 per cent of those suspects who were caught in the Delhi Metro network this year for pick-pocketing crimes, according to official data.

Figures compiled by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) for a period between January-September show that a total of 182 women were held as compared to 13 men for pick-pocketing like incidents in the rapid rail transport system of the national capital region.

The force, which is tasked to secure the Delhi Metro, reported 45 incidents during the same period after which these people were apprehended and handed over to Metro authorities and Delhi Police for action under law.

The overwhelming majority of women indulging in these crimes has shown a constant trend over the last few years.

"Women pickpockets have been making the chunk of numbers in the Delhi Metro for the last few years. In the first nine months of 2015, they constitute for about 93 per cent instances.

"It has been detected that they hide their intentions by deploying a clever modus operandi of accompanying a child or carrying a toddler with them and subsequently attempt to pick a purse or other valuables of a traveller, be it a man or a woman," a senior official said.

In order to check these crimes and help women passengers using the Metro, the force regularly deploys women and men personnel in plain-clothes to keep an eye on trouble makers.

Last year, over 300 women were intercepted for these crimes making about 94 per cent of those held while in 2013, of the total 466 pickpockets held across various stations of the Delhi Metro, 421 were women while the rest were male.

PTI