LUCKNOW: The crime graph of Uttar Pradesh has recorded a downward trend in 2018 in comparison to 2017 figures, UP top cop OP Singh said Friday."Certainly, graph of key crimes has seen a downward movement in the state in past two years. Maintaining law and order is top priority of the present government and we have succeeded in instilling confidence among the people with effective policing and prompt action," the DGP told PTI here.As per official figures, key crimes including rape, murder, kidnapping and loot have come down in 2018 as compared to 2017.While there were 4,272 rape cases in 2017, the figure came down by 7.63 per cent to 3,946 cases in 2018.Similarly, murder cases have come down by 7.08 per cent from 4,324 in 2017 to 4,018 in 2018.There were 251 dacoity cases in 2017 which drastically came down by 42.63 per cent to 144 in 2018. Loot cases also came down in this period by 22.1 per cent. There were 4,131 loot cases in 2017, which came down to 3,218 in 2018.Cases related to kidnapping for ransom came down by 30.43 per cent from 2017 to 2018.Other cases like road hold-up, dowry deaths, clashes also went down, as per the official figures.The number of FIRs registered in this period has seen an increase by 10.15 per cent. A total of 3,10,810 FIRs were registered in 2017, while it rose by 10.15 per cent to 3,42,355 in 2017. This rise is being credited to availability of e-FIR and other facilities."After the Yogi Adityanath government came to power in 2017, the police has been given a free hand. Many hardened criminals have been nabbed. This has helped in checking the crime rate," BJP spokesman Shalabh Mani Tripathi said.As per official figures, since March 2017, 7,502 criminals were nabbed in police action while 72 of them were killed in such encounters. As many as 522 policemen were injured and four killed in these 'acts'. A total of 931 criminals were injured in these police actions.SP leader and MLC Rajpal Kashyap, however, termed the data as "mere eyewash". "There is no law and order in the state. People of the state are fed up with the BJP government and they will give a befitting reply in the coming Lok Sabha polls," Kashyap said.Speaking to newspersons in Siddharthnagar earlier, the DGP had announced a slew of policing initiatives in the state, including a dedicated police application and recruitment of nearly 1 lakh constables.The DGP said the police is taking assistance from institutes like IIT Kanpur and BITS Pilani to control cyber crimes."A police application has been launched and now FIRs could be lodged through it. In a week, 50,000 people have downloaded the application. Cases are also getting registered through the police number 100," he said.The DGP said the target is to recruit 1 lakh constables and at present 42,000 are being recruited while 50,000 more would be recruited soon.He said lost children are being returned to their homes under operation 'Muskan', also under which women are being given self-defense training. Similarly, vulgar literature is being destroyed under operation destroy.Singh appreciated the works of the police and said future operations would depend on technology and efficiency. He urged the youths to look at the police force for jobs as there were a number of opportunities.

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