New Delhi, May 8 -- The Capital recorded a 15% drop in registered criminal cases in 2024, with roughly 275,000 cases lodged under the Indian Penal Code and its successor Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), down from 324,000 odd in 2023, according to the National Crime Records Bureau's annual report. The 2024 edition is the first to capture data under the BNS, which came into effect on July 1, 2024. The decline, however, has not altered Delhi's standing among India's 19 metro cities. The Capital continues to lead in all categories of violent crime. Delhi recorded 504 murders in 2024, marginally down from 506 in 2023 and 509 in 2022, but well ahead of Bengaluru, which reported 176, and Surat with 114. Of the 522 people killed across 504 cases, personal enmity was the leading motive, followed by illicit relationships and robbery. Kidnapping and abduction cases fell to 5,580 in 2024 from 5,715 in 2023, but Delhi again led all metro cities - Mumbai reported 1,854 cases and Bengaluru 1,215. Only 8.5% of kidnapping cases were chargesheeted in the capital. Victims were predominantly girls between the ages of 12 and 18. Theft remains the dominant property crime. Delhi recorded 180,973 theft cases in 2024 - roughly 496 cases every day - accounting for 73.3% of theft cases across all cities. Mumbai followed at 10,854 cases (4.4%), Bengaluru at 9,229 (3.7%), and Jaipur at 9,051 (3.7%). Snatching accounted for roughly 3,105 of Delhi's theft cases and vehicle theft for around 40,000. Street crimes eased: robbery cases fell to 1,510 from 1,660 in 2023. Extortion cases, however, rose to 228 from 207. The BNS introduced two new offence categories relevant to Delhi's crime profile. Organised crime, defined under the BNS Section 111 as kidnapping, robbery, and extortion carried out by syndicates, yielded 20 cases in Delhi in the six months since implementation - the highest among metro cities, ahead of Lucknow and Surat with nine each. Petty organised crime - gang-related theft and robbery under BNS Section 112 - produced 180 cases over the same period. Police recorded 33 rioting cases in 2024 compared to 44 cases in 2023. No cases were lodged under the Terrorist Act or for unlawful assembly. 10,843 children were reported missing in Delhi at the end of 2024. Of these, 5,491 cases were registered during the year and 5,352 were carried over from previous years. Girls accounted for 7,649 of the total, boys 3,192, and two cases involved transgender children. The previous year (2023), there were 6284 missing children in all. Delhi's recovery rate for missing children stood at 62.4% in 2024, and the capital accounts for 7.36% of the 147,175 missing children cases pending nationally at year's end. New registrations fell - 5,491 fresh cases were reported in 2024 against 6,284 in 2023 - and the total caseload dropped from 12,324 to 10,843. Sanjay Gupta, director of CHETNA, an organisation working with street children, attributed Delhi's high missing children numbers to large-scale migration and the absence of childcare support for working parents. "While both parents go for work, the children are unattended. These are essentially street children with no safety net. We receive multiple cases of missing children from railway stations and migration hubs like Sarai Kale Khan, spaces under flyovers and major intersections," he said. Gupta called for a stronger anganwadi system and voluntary creche facilities for daily wage workers. He also pointed to a policing gap: "The proportion of missing girls is much higher and we have found that in many cases police treats them as cases of elopement. This attitude also needs to change." Overall, Delhi had 55,939 missing persons cases at year's end - including adults - of which 23,058 were registered in 2024 and 32,881 were pending from earlier years. The recovery rate for all missing persons stood at 50.8% in 2024, compared to 47% the year before. Separately, the overall cybercrime count in 2024 was 404, similar to the number recorded a year before, as per the NCRB data....