LAHORE - The Punjab province has seen an unprecedented increase in crime incidents during the first 11 months of this year as compared to the previous.

The latest police data shows that incidents of murder, rape, abduction, dacoity, robbery, cattle theft, and motor vehicle theft have swelled to an alarming level throughout the province. The rate of violent crime has shown upward trend, despite massive police crackdown on criminals.

The provincial police reported an overall 447,866 crime incidents during the first 11 months of this year as compared to 408,064 cases reported during the same period last year. The police this year registered at least 102,949 cases of crime against property from January to November while at least 94,236 such cases had been reported by police during the corresponding period last year. Similarly, the police registered at least 48,298 cases of crime against person during the first eleven months of this year as compared to the last year’s 44,401 cases in this category.

All reported crime incidents are divided into two main categories- crime against person and crime against property. The part-I (crimes against person) includes eight categories - murder, attempted murder, hurt, kidnapping, kidnapping for ransom, rape, gang rape and others. The part-II (crime against property) comprises of dacoity, robbery, burglary, theft, motor vehicle theft, and cattle theft cases.

Also, the police in Punjab failed to identify even a single suspect in no less than 20,000 incidents of crime reported in the first 11 months of this year across the province. The latest police data shows that thousands of criminals involved in murder, robbery, kidnappings, burglary, and vehicle theft are going unpunished.

Police reported increase of 39,802 cases in 2019

MURDER: The incidents of murder also increased during the first 11 months of 2019 as compared to the previous year. At least 3772 people were murdered across the province during the first 11 months of this year. The police declared at least 86 murder cases as “untraceable” while 851 cases are still under investigation. Last year, police investigators were unable to solve many blind murder cases. In these blind murder cases, several victims were women and children who were found brutally murdered in different parts of the province.

ATTEMPTED MURDER: The province also witnessed a sizeable surge in the incidents of attempted murder registered during the first 11 months of this year if compared to the corresponding period of 2017. The provincial police registered 5,004 attempted murder cases this year against last year’s 4,642 such incidents. Also, the police, during the first 11 months of this year, reported at least 14,074 “Hurt” cases in the category of crime against person.

KIDNAPPING: The provincial police registered at least 13,897 abduction cases during the first eleven months of 2018 as compared to 13,765 kidnapping incidents reported during the corresponding period of 2017. Most of the victims were said to be women and young girls who were abducted by gunmen. At least 66 kidnapping for ransom incidents were registered with police during the first eleven months of this year.

RAPE/GANG-RAPE: At least 3,648 rape cases were reported by police during the first eleven months of this year while during the matching period of 2018 the police had reported 3,074 rape cases. Similarly, at least 181 cases of gang-rape were reported by police during the first 11 months of this year.

DACOITIES: The police, during the first eleven months of this year, reported at least 816 cases of dacoities (involving five or more than five gunmen) against 728 such cases reported during the same period in 2018.

ROBBERIES: The new police data shows that at least 15,732 armed robberies were reported during the first eleven months of this year against 12,847 such cases reported during the corresponding period of 2017. Similarly, at least 11,146 cases of burglary were reported by the police during the first 11 months of 2018 against 10,331 such cases registered with the police during the same period in 2018.

THEFT: During the first 11 months of this year, the police registered 1380 theft cases against 1,285 theft cases reported during the corresponding period of 2018. The police data also shows a considerable increase in cattle-theft cases this year as compared to the previous year. At least 6,339 cattle-theft cases were registered with the police during the first 11 months of 2018 while the police had reported 5,052 such cases during the same period in 2018.

MOTOR VEHICLE Theft: The police during the first 11 months of 2018 reported at least 21,972 cases of motor-vehicle-theft while during the same period in 2018 the police had reported 17,353 such cases. As far as the incidents of motor-vehicle-snatching are concerned, the police this year reported at least 3752 cases against 3,236 such incidents reported during the same period of 2017.