KATHMANDU, Oct 27: Police say incidents of crime in Kathmandu Valley during the country´s biggest festival Dashain were down by nearly 50 percent this year in comparison to previous years when the crime rate spiked significantly.
Police claimed proactive policing and public awareness campaign resulted in controlling criminal activities during Dashain. This Dashain witnessed the lowest number of criminal incidents according to the three-year comparative study of the statistics in Kathmandu valley. According to the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Jaya Bahadur Chand, chief of Metropolitan Police Range, Kathmandu, no serious crimes occurred during Dashain. “
"Criminal gangs were active in robbery, theft and other activities in the earlier years but this time those activities were less than ha”f," SSP Chand said. During Dashain about 1,112 people were arrested for being involved in different unlawful activities and among them 1,059 people were handed to their kin after completion of general procedures. Among the people arrested during Dashain, about 53 people are still in police custody for further legal procedure.
Out of 53 people 16 were arrested for gambling in different areas of the Kathmandu Distric“. "With the gearing up of festive season police had inspected some professional gambling spots and warned them, which helped minimize the gambling in the ci”y," according to the SSP Chand. Metropolitan Police had started crackdown on illegal gambling and warned of serious charges during Dashain, which is also taken as gambling time in Nepal. Police had identified about 100 to 150 gambling prone zones in Kathmandu District alone and was in high alert in those areas.
According to statistics 53 people are to face the legal charges against different crimes this Dashain and in the previous year 100 people who were arrested during Dashain had faced the court.
Meanwhile SSP Dilip Kumar Chaudhary, chief of Metropolitan Police Bhaktapur said that crime in Dashain was lowered because of the excessive support and cooperation of the local peopl“. "The awareness campaign worked a lot in minimizing the crimes during Dashain leaving out some nominal cases related to drinking and quar”el", he said. He claime“, "Proactive policing during festive season was a huge success this time in comparison to past years which needed to be continued throughout the year at any cos”s."
Similarly SSP Rajendraman Shrestha of Metro Police Lalitpur also said that crime in the district was almost zero during Dashain. The special security campaign during festival season helped to curb crimes during Dashain and this will be continued till the end of the festive season, he said.
About 3,200 police were deployed in Kathmandu District along with hundreds of police in Lalitpur and Bhaktapur Districts during festive season. During this period Police checked 485 vehicles including motorbikes and out of them 151 vehicles owners were charged. But in the last Dahsain Police had checked 215 vehicles and only 70 vehicles were charged.
In order to make the festive season more peaceful and secure, police had formed different security committees with the direct involvement of public in different places of the valley which police believes to be more helpful in proactive policing.
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