’Goons were held for peaceful polls’

The poll season is over and Delhi's crime graph is rising. Cops say the trouble-makers who were in jail during the elections are back in business.

'Goons were held for peaceful polls'

The poll season is over and Delhi's crime graph is rising. Cops say the trouble-makers who were in jail during the elections are back in business.

May 21: Two men on a motorcycle robbed a man of Rs 7 lakh outside an ATM in Preet Vihar, East Delhi

May 18: Two men robbed Rs 18 lakh from a petrol pump owner in Mandawli, East Delhi. A security guard of a bank was shot at during the incident.

May 14: Two bikers robbed a senior woman journalist of her gold ring and Rs 3,000 cash at knife-point at Mandawli

Recently, a senior citizen's house was robbed of cash and valuables worth several lakhs at Saket, South Delhi
Four major crimes rocked the Capital in the past few days, after a period of peace.

Nothing suspicious about that except, the jump in the crime graph seems to have started as soon as the polls got over.

The cops feel the dip in the crime rate happened because the trouble-makers were behind bars to ensure peaceful polls.

"We detain bad characters to avoid any trouble during the elections and release them after the polls are over. This ensures that the elections are held peacefully without the use of muscle power.

As a result of these preventive arrests, the crime rate too dips during the elections. However, even after they are released, the local police keep an eye on the thugs to avoid any untoward incident," said a senior police official, wishing anonymity.

According to the Delhi Police, more than 500 criminals were arrested before the elections under Sections 107/151 and 107/150 of the CrPC (Criminal Procedure Code).

During the elections, South district registered the highest number ofpreventive arrests with the detention of 252 people.

In Southwest, around 104 were detained.

However, in districts like Outer, Northwest and the West no arrests were made.

What is a preventive arrest?

A day before the elections, the police, in order to ensure peaceful polling, arrest people who have a history of creating trouble. They are jailed for a few days till the elections are over.

They are booked under Section 107/151 of the CrPC. Later, they are released by a special executive magistrate who is of the rank of an assistant commissioner of police.

However, in some cases where the suspicion level is low, the accused are booked under Section 107/150 of the CrPC and let off with a warning.

Number of arrests in Delhi

North district: 10
South district: 252
East district: 4
West district: 0
Northwest district: 0
Outer district: 0
Southeast district: 6
Southwest district: 104
Central district: 92
Northeast district: 48