Chennai crime diary: Love, sex and murder – Times of India

Last October, a woman murdered her husband with the help of her boyfriend. The two fed him a dosa laced with a concoction made of sleeping pills and then strangled him. The woman, Anupriya, and the man were arrested. A month later, a 31-year-old man, B Ansar Basha, of Chitlapakkam, was hacked to death by his girlfriend’s son and two of his friends.

Both the incidents were due to what the NCRB calls ‘illicit’ relationships.
And the bureau’s 2019 data, also the latest, puts Chennai on top of the list of murders committed due to such relationships. In 2019, there were 28 such murders. Also, the city is second in the number of murders because of disputes. Chennai had 90 such cases, preceded by Delhi that had recorded 125 murders.
According to NCRB data, 45 murders were reported in Chennai due to personal enmity, 44 others were killed after a petty quarrel and 30 were killed due to family dispute. As per the statistics, 26 murders after a failed love affair were reported in Delhi, 13 such cases happened in Bengaluru, 12 murders were reported in Mumbai and two in Hyderabad.
The spurt in such cases had made a division bench comprising Justice N Kirubakaran and Justice Abdul Quddhose observe in last June that crimes arising out of illicit relationships in which even mothers killed their children was “a social problem affecting the institution of marriage and family.” The court asked the central and state governments to give “serious thoughts” to the matter.
When asked about the dubious distinction of recording the highest number of such murders, a senior police officer told TOI that he was yet “to see the data”.
Senior citizens are easy targets in the state
Tamil Nadu may not be an ideal place to retire if one goes by the NCRB data. The state reported 177 cases of murder of senior citizens, the second highest in the country. Among the metropolitan cities, Chennai topped the list with 10 murders.
Uttar Pradesh recorded the highest number of murders of senior citizens, 209.
With 2,058 cases, Madhya Pradesh had the maximum number of ‘hurt incidents’ against senior citizens followed by Maharastra (978) and Tamil Nadu, 565 cases. Maharastra reported 2,051 theft cases where the victim was an elderly citizen, followed by Tamil Nadu (569 cases) and MP, 395 cases.
That said, Tamil Nadu has a higher percentage of senior citizens with 11.2%.
S Aravindan, a retired police officer, said, “Many senior citizen murders reported in Chennai are yet to be resolved.” Most senior citizens are murdered for gain, he said.
Activists said a high incidence of robberies in which 190 senior citizens were targeted meant the elderly were easy targets.
Police said they have strengthened patrolling and all city police stations have been directed to collect details of senior citizens living alone. Personnel on beat patrol have been assigned to enumerate the elderly in their respective neighbourhoods, a police officer said.
84 juveniles murdered in TN in 2019
The Tamil Nadu police had booked 4,866 cases under the Pocso Act for crime against children in 2019, as per NCRB data. Police had averted 46 child marriages and rescued seven child labourers.
The maximum number of crimes against children were reported from Uttar Pradesh where 261 juveniles were killed and 30 were raped and murdered. Tamil Nadu is sixth in the list after UP, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Karnataka. The state reported murders of 84 juveniles and eight cases of rape and murder. Kanya Babu, co-founder of NGO All India Movement for Service, said cases of sexual abuse of children may come down if there is more awareness. “The perpetrators often believe that the victims fear stigma and that they will never speak about it in the open,” she said. Kanya said during awareness drives she found that many girls, who were abused, found it difficult to inform their parents.
Kanya said sex education must be imparted at the household. “There has to be a bond between parents and children. We are conducting awareness programmes to bridge the gap between them.”
TN fourth on list of most missing kids
Tamil Nadu is fourth on the list of most missing children in 2019, with 4,519, shows NCRB data. Madhya Pradesh had the most number of missing children in the year at 11,022, followed by Bihar (7,299) and Maharashtra (4,562).
In Tamil Nadu, as per https://trackthemissingchild.gov.in, 1,086 children went missing in the past one year and 805 children were traced by the law enforcement agencies. In the past one month, about 54 children went missing and 29 were traced by police and other agencies.
Over the past four years, more than 2,000 children have been rescued in Tamil Nadu under ‘Operation Smile,’ a central government initiative launched by the state crime records bureau. An inspector of police has been assigned to handle cases reported in the state.
The Tamil Nadu police in 2019 slapped about 99 cases under Section 366-A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) which deals with procuring minor girls, inducing a minor girl voluntarily or forcefully seducing her. Assam topped the list with about 1,474 cases under this section booked, with Haryana ranking second with 813 cases. Jharkhand reported 304 cases booked under the section.