New Delhi, Jun 20 (PTI) Delhi LG V K Saxena on Tuesday wrote to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal cautioning him against "politicising crime", saying it provides no solution at all.

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Saxena said incidents of crime have been taking place despite vigil. His letter comes hours after it was reported that Kejriwal had shot off a missive to Saxena, dated June 19, highlighting the "alarming" spurt in crime. He had suggested a meeting between the LG and the members of the Cabinet.

The LG said Kejriwal and his ministerial colleagues were welcome to meet him for a "meaningful discussion that leads to solutions rather than creating political opportunities for you and your party to exploit the Media gallery".

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"I also take this opportunity to highlight that politicizing crime has almost become a habit these days and you would appreciate, while this provides no solution at all, it does subject the victim and their family to avoidable agony, apart from encouraging crime," the LG said in the letter.

"Gruesome recent incidents like those where a girl was killed, dismembered and buried by her live-in partner, a girl being stabbed to death by a man in public view with no one attempting to save her and a girl being dragged for kilometres under the wheels of a car, indicate towards a sea-change in not only the nature of crime but also the approach of the society towards crime, as a whole," the letter noted.

Highlighting the profiles of the perpetrators of crime, he said that in most cases, they were young people below the age of 30, first-timers, who did not have any serious criminal antecedents and invariably had an active social media presence.

"In addition to these, crimes involving family and monetary dispute, as the recent incidents in Saket Court and Ambedkar Basti (R K Puram) show, are disproportionately on the rise. You would appreciate that while, policing certainly has a role in deterring such incidents, it used to be the social deterrent that prevented such unheard of incidents from taking place," the letter read.

He further said "politicizing crime...does subject the victim and their family to avoidable agony, apart from encouraging crime".

"In this regard, I am sure, that the issue of an unfortunate rape in 2012 raised by you to politically target the then Chief Minister, will serve as an eye opener and conscience knocker for you," he said.

Stressing that he shared the concerns raised by Kejriwal, the LG said crime in Delhi and its control "has been on top of my agenda since day one of my taking over about an year back".

"You may not be aware, since you and your colleagues often make public statements on the contrary, I have been reviewing and monitoring the Delhi Police on a regular basis. Bi-weekly meetings with the Commissioner of Police, weekly meetings with the Special CPs and periodic meetings aimed at direct interface with the DCPs is a regular part of my schedule," he said.

The LG opined visible policing is a strong deterrent against crime, but asserted it cannot be the only solution "especially in the light of the fact that crime today has acquired complex dimensions".

"Unlike earlier, when crime and criminals were restricted to margins, it has now become far more pervasive due to various societal changes, especially in terms of technology and accessibility to crime-inducing content, freely available on various platforms," he said.

Highlighting the various crime incidents, he said that while, policing certainly has a role in deterring such incidents, "it used to be the social deterrent that prevented such unheard of incidents from taking place".

Appreciating the police's attempts at installing CCTV cameras, eradicating dark spots and making public transport safer, he said they have yielded satisfactory results in terms of targets met.

"It is because of these that the incidents of crime are coming to light and culprits are being expeditiously nabbed. However, these have not proved to be sufficient deterrence, with incidents taking place despite vigil. This again points towards the need of a larger and more comprehensive approach towards dealing with this issue," he said.

Saxena said the biggest role the Delhi government could play in the current scenario "will be to shape our youth and youngsters by way of education as also targeted counselling and interventions at all levels, where Citizen-Government interface takes place".

"Departments like Education, Social Welfare, Transport and Health are some areas fully under your control where a positive step forward in this direction would augment policing efforts like none else.

"You would appreciate that the shaping of an individual in terms of how he / she interacts with the society around him / her and otherwise, takes place in the years that are spent in schools and colleges and the behaviour of adults at large are shaped by their socio economic surroundings. Both are spheres where efforts by the Governments can contribute significantly with the wherewithal available to them and you can do much that is desired," he said.

He also assured Kejriwal that required steps are being taken and no stone whatsoever "will be left unturned by me as also the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India as far as proper policing of the National Capital is concerned".

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)