Agencies

New Delhi, Jun 2: India has earned the dubious distinction of being the country where the maximum number of murders take place in the world, three times more than its neighbour Pakistan and double the figures in the United States.

There were more than 50 lakh incidents of crime reported in 2007-08 which included murder, rape and drug offences,a government report said.There were 32,719 incidents of murder recorded in India, whereas there were 16,692 in the US and 9,631 in Pakistan, the report, compiled by the National Crime Records Bureau and released by the Union home ministry, said.

India was followed by South Africa which registered 30,960 incidents of murders. Austria had recorded just 148 murders, whereas Israel registered 177 such incidents.

However, the rate (per lakh population) of murder and other crimes in India was much less as compared to other countries. The murder and rape rate in India is three and four (per lakh population) respectively.

“Most of the murders takes place due to passion, sudden provocation, crime related and family disputes,’’ Delhi police spokesman ACP Rajan Bhagat said. Delhi has recorded an increase of 1.08 per cent in murders in 2007 as compared to 2006.

The number of rape cases were the highest in the US which recorded 93,934 such assaults followed by South Africa 54,926 and India 18,359.

The data was compiled from 22 countries which included Australia, Argentina, Austria, Bulgaria, Japan, Canada, England and Wales, Germany, Malaysia, New Zealand, Thailand and Sri Lanka. In India, there were 44,159 incidents of sexual offences, 2,70,861 cases of serious assault and 22,814 robbery and violent theft-related incidents, the report said. The maximum number of robbery related cases were reported in Japan which had registered 17,25,072 incidents.