ANALYSIS OF CRIME DURING LOCKDOWN

Author-Harshita Gopi

The spread of corona virus has brought the world to a standstill and the impact of which can be seen in the economy of most countries. Lock down has changed how the people live and what is

their responsibility towards the ongoing pandemic. The main aim behind the lock down is to control the spread of the corona virus from one person to another through social interaction. One of the impacts of this pandemic is that the crime rate in the world has subsequently reduced as the movement of the people has been highly restricted due to the lock down imposed by the government of various countries. According to the report produced by major countries which indicated that the crime rate has been dropped by 20% in the world. There has been a drop in outside crimes like murder, burglary, etc. As it is said that where ever man goes there is a chance of commission of a crime, but due to this lock down, the rate of commission of certain crimes like online related crimes, domestic violence, rape has been increased. The main reason for an increase in online crimes is that most of the people are staying indoors, at the same time they need updates of the outside world and live corona cases as a result of which people end up installing several applications from the play store or Goggle without verifying the app as a result of which an unauthorized person can access the system and check out all the personal details and the bank details as a result of which cyber crimes have been increased. As, a result of lockdown in this pandemic, criminals are finding new ways of committing of the offense as, a result of which new offenses are emerging like malicious Coughing, to take a real example of this newly emerged offense, a man in New Jersey went to a grocery shop stood close to the employee of the shop and coughed and started saying that he has been caught with the virus.

One of the main challenges that have emerged because of the lockdown is an increase in the cases of domestic violence. The NGO’S and other organization which used to tackle with this issues earlier raised their concern for not being actively tackled with the rising domestic violence cases due to lock down and travel restrictions imposed by the government. As it is said “An ideal mind is a devil’s workshop” because being ideal at home without being indulged in some work is the main cause of the increasing cases of domestic violence. The Government in some of the states of India has opened liquor shops to earn some revenue out of it, this is one side of the coin, the other side of the coin is that because of the re-opening of the liquor shop, the poor person who does not have enough money to buy is selling out his wife’s ornaments, her savings for a rainy day to buy liquor for himself, As some of the activists have pointed out the view’’ that the opening of the liquor shop can be directly marked to increases in the cases of the crimes against women and the same has happened in India. There is a clear violation of the human rights of women and children. The offenses like chain snatching, smuggling, theft, rape, and violence can be directly linked to liquor consumption. As it has been two months since the lockdown was initially announced by the Government, the impact of which is suffered by some people who lost their jobs and who could not find any other employment opportunities for themselves to meet his family ends is forced to indulge in criminal activities, the incidents of chain snatching, and assault has increased in some cities. Along, with this, the incidents of rape and child sexual assault have also been increased in India. One might think that home is the safest place for oneself to live in but it is not so. Incidents related to rape and child sexual assault by the fathers have also been recorded in many states of India, the saddest part of some of the cases is that incident of rape took place in the presence of the mother who is aiding the father to facilitate the commission of rape on the girl child. An incident of rape on a girl child that took place in Madhya Pradesh where the father committed rape twice on the child during the lockdown. While the mother of the child stuffed cloth in her mouth so that no one hears her voice.

One of the main reasons for the crime rate to come down can be marked to the closure of all the borders of almost all the states in India and interstate restriction imposed by the government of all the states to curb the cases of the spread of coronavirus. Along with this, the cases of kidnapping has also been reduced as the police of all the state is keeping a constant eye on the highways and roads to prevent people from stepping out of their homes for unnecessary reasons. The rate of theft and house burglary has also come down because most of the people are staying at homes, generally, the high incidents of house burglary happen, the most in the summer season but this year, the rate of house burglary has come down due to the lockdown.

There has been a significant drop in the cases of sexual harassment at the workplace, as most of the companies have resorted to working from home but still, some of the female employees face online harassment during online meetings while interacting with top officials and employees of the organization.

There has been a significant drop in the incidents of unnatural death resulting from either from the abatement or other reasons. Initially, when the lockdown was announced by the Government, the rate of suicide was low but subsequently, there is a huge rise in the incidents of suicide due to distress and financial issues arising due to the lockdown. The high rate of suicide is observed in migrant workers and poor people who are unable to afford even a single time meal a day. Even the astonishing rate of suicide is caused due to the fear of the virus and the unavailability of alcohol due to lockdown. During this lockdown, the cases of police atrocities have increased in almost all the states of India. There has been a huge violation of human rights of the migrant worker and other poor people by the police officer in this lockdown period as the police officers are manipulating the food grains and food which is given by the government to the police officers to distribute it among the migrant workers, on being questioned by the migrant workers they are being assaulted, beaten by the police officer.

However, there has been a fall in outside crimes in these two months but the rate of cybercrimes has drastically increased in this lockdown as most of the people are staying indoors with no other source of entertainment other than the internet. So, people of all age groups are using the internet for entertainment and relaxation purposes and are installing many applications either knowingly or unknowingly accepting the terms and conditions without going through the terms at least once. As, a result of which some unauthorized persons can access the pictures and other personal information relating to users as a result of which cybercrimes are taking place. As the government has told all the citizens to resort to digital and online payment methods because of which it has increased the number of digital payment users. All these activities have however some threats involved as some hackers can access the bank details and it may result in banking frauds. As, Reserve bank of India has announced the deferring of the payment of monthly installment for 2 months but still some of the frauds are making fake calls pretending themselves to be bank employees and are requesting the customer to share the OTP, pin code and other details. So, that they can deduct the monthly installment to avoid a penalty for late payment and huge interest amount. The Internet is also being used as a carrier of fake news. In the month of March, fake news was circulated on the Internet which caught the eyes of the users that “ Eating chicken causes coronavirus” due to which people stopped eating chicken and due to which heavy loss was suffered by the poultry business in India. The Government is on the upper hand has assured the citizen that it will create an app relating to corona updates to stop the fake news from being circulated.

CONCLUSION

The coronavirus pandemic has spread to all the countries in the world with no signs of how to control the spread of the pandemic. The initial step which almost all the countries in the world have taken is the lockdown to curb the chances of the spread of coronavirus by restricting the movement of the people. So, that it will lessen the contact between people which would help to tackle the ongoing pandemic in the world but the lockdown does not mean lockdown of crime. Even though people are staying indoors there is still a chance of commission of crime. One of the crimes which have increased the most during this pandemic is the incidents of domestic violence as the husband has increased their violence towards the wives in this lockdown and it has become difficult for the wives to live in 0together with their abusive partner in the same household. The incidents of rape and child sexual assault by father and close family members in a joint family have been increased because of the lockdown the matters are unable to come out for the police and other organization to take timely action and are suppressed within the four walls of the house.

Some people who have exhausted all their savings and are unable to find any other employment opportunities are engaging themselves in criminal activities to run their families. Those people who unable to cope up with the ongoing pandemic and are unable to find any other better option for themselves are committing suicide to bring their pain and suffering to a complete end. The worst effect of this lockdown is yet to come as most of the industries would be shut down because of the huge liabilities and the poor people would be able to resort to his old means of livelihood to make his end meet some of them has to indulge in criminal activities because of hunger.