Neha Sinha and Avanti Durani, Assistant Director and Associate at IDFC Institute, respectively, write for IndiaSpend on the state of underreporting of crime in 4 major cities of India, from data based on the Safety Trends and Reporting of Crime (SATARC) Survey. 

"Only 6-8% of victims of theft in four major Indian cities lodged a first information report (FIR) with the police, according to a new study. The remaining 92-94% are not reflected in any official record...

The study found that 8% of Delhi’s citizens had been victims of theft. This is the highest among the four cities. Of these victims, 45% approached the police to report the incident and only 16% of them managed to file an FIR...

Respondents in different cities cited varied reasons for not approaching the police to report a theft. In Delhi, 30% of respondents felt that the police would not entertain their complaint; in Mumbai, 35% didn’t think the incident was serious enough; in Chennai, 51% mentioned lack of evidence; and in Bengaluru, 35% didn’t want to get tangled in police/court procedures."

Read the full article here. 

This article was republished in Hindustan Times, FirstPost, Times Delhi, and Business Standard.