Neha Sinha, Avanti Durani and Rithika Kumar, assistant director and associates respectively at the IDFC Institute write on smart policing in this Hindustan Times column.

"The official records undercount theft because less than half of victims approach the police and only a handful of those end up filing an FIR. In Delhi, 45% of theft victims approached the police of which 16% lodged an FIR. The proportions were 32% and 19% in Mumbai, 20% and 40% in Chennai and 18% and 42% in Bengaluru, respectively. The main reasons for not approaching the police, across the four cities, were lack of evidence, fear of being caught in police or court matters, the perception that the police may not entertain their complaint as well as the perception that the crime was not of a serious nature."

Read the full article here.