Murder cases went up by 8 percent with 1,085 being reported in 85 districts in June as compared with May’s figures of 996 covering 80 districts, says a Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) report.
The report released on Wednesday said Peshawar with 54 and Faisalabad with 49 cases were the highest murder reporting districts. FAFEN observers visited 97 offices of district police officers (DPOs) across the country to gather information on first information reports (FIRs) registered for 27 offences falling under the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). The collected data revealed that among crimes involving physical harm to people, FIRs for accidental death and hurt shot up 33 percent and 3 percent but those for terrorism-related incidents (20 percent) and attempted murder (7 percent) declined.
The total number of FIRs fell by 16 percent per district during the period monitored. Ninety-seven districts had 42,780 FIRs lodged while the preceding month’s statistics recorded were 45,448 in 86 districts.
Sixty percent of the total FIRs filed were for ‘other crimes’, followed by crimes pertaining to property (18 percent), crimes involving physical harm (13 percent), threat and fraud (8 percent) and crimes against women (3 percent). A region-wise comparison shows Punjab (64 percent) reported the most crimes with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (30 percent), Sindh (11 percent), Balochistan (1 percent) and ICT (less than 1 percent).
A better outreach, lack of parallel judicial systems and a higher confidence level between the police and the people are said to be the reasons for better crime reportage in Punjab than other regions.
Under crimes pertaining to property, cases of criminal misappropriation of property doubled – seven FIRs lodged in the reporting period as compared with two in May. Similarly, extortion cases increased two-fifths and theft was up 19 percent. However, FIRs for motor vehicle lifting and motor vehicle snatching dropped 13 percent and 7 percent.
Among threat and fraud crimes, FIRs for criminal intimidation increased 50 percent, followed by criminal breach of trust (17 percent) and counterfeiting currency (12 percent). However, offences against public tranquility came down 37 percent as did cheating cases by 8 percent.
Crimes against women saw a drop too – down from 1,226 cases recorded in May to 1,138. The monitored period had 12 cases of insulting women’s modesty through word, gesture or act in seven districts. The previous month 10 FIRs were registered in two districts. Offences relating to marriage registered a decline of 18 percent and so did cases of outraging women’s modesty by assault or force (11 percent) and forced marriages (8 percent). Out of total FIRs registered, 47 percent were reported in 10 districts – nine in Punjab and one in KP. Lahore (13 percent), Faisalabad (7 percent) and Gujranwala (5 percent) were the highest reporting districts.