As per an order of the High Court, the police cannot file suo motu cases under Section 184, 185 of the Motor Vehicles Act. As such, minor cases like rash and negligent driving were registered under Section 279 of the Indian Penal Code.
This has resulted in an alarming increase in the number of minor crimes which in turn led to an increase in the total number of crimes. "The sudden increase of total reported crimes from 8,755 in 2009 to 25,716 in 2010 is owing to the registration of 23,369 cases under Section 279 IPC," Ajith Kumar stated.
Of the 25,715 cases reported in the city, 24,227 are minor cases. Meanwhile, major crimes in Kochi city account only for 1,488 cases. Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode had a higher incidence of major crimes, with 2,964 and 1,963 reported cases.
Regarding the list of major crimes, Kochi comes 56th in the list. Moreover, the data show that major crimes in the city have been declining since 2007, from 4,103 cases in 2007 to 1,488 in 2010.
With respect to major crimes, Kochi’s crime rate is just 4.4 per cent of Delhi, 5.5 per cent of Mumbai, 17.2 per cent of Kolkata and 32.2 per cent of Chennai.
"It will be foolish for any person living in Kochi city or anywhere else to think that the crime in Kochi city has grown 300 per cent in 2010 compared to 2009 when in reality it has come down by 100 per cent compared to 2009 (from 2,990 to 1,488)," said the press release.
Kochi no crime capital, says police chief - IBNLive
