Mumbai Police force continues to grapple with a manpower crunch though rape and molestation cases have risen sharply and conviction rates have fallen to an abysmal low of seven per cent, according to numbers compiled by a non-governmental organisation.
Tasked with protecting a city with a population of over two crore people, the Mumbai Police remains 1,763 posts (14 per cent) short of its sanctioned strength of 41,398, according to data for the year 2012-13, released here today by the Praja Foundation.
The cumulative strength of constables in the city stands at 29,811 as against the approved number of 33,110 constables.
The strength of middle-level officers such as Assistant Police Inspectors (APIs) and Police Sub Inspectors (PSIs), who investigate cases, is also very less, the review said.
"There are only 732 APIs instead of the 1,002 sanctioned posts and 1,319 PSIs for the sanctioned 3,125 posts. PSIs and APIs are the ones who are actually trained to probe crimes.
With such a huge shortage of PSIs and APIs, it is little wonder that chargesheets are not being filed for lack of investigation into crimes," founder trustee of the NGO Nitai Mehta said.
"This is one of the reasons why conviction rate in 2012 was seven per cent, which is three per cent down from the previous year. This encourages criminals to carry out more offences," he claimed.
According to the data gathered through the RIT, there has been a sharp rise in crime against women, as rape cases increased by 57 per cent (from 187 cases to 294) and molestation cases increased by 43 per cent (from 554 to 793) during 2012-13.
Chain snatching incidents have come down to 1,269 which is 22 per cent less compared to last year.
