Food and Scientific Reports

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Crime and Pandemic: Hidden face of COVID 19

Sukanya Som1, Sangeeta Bhattacharyya2* and Pinaki Roy3
1ICAR-Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute, Kolkata 700 120; 2ICAR-Central Citrus Research Institute, Nagpur 440 033; 3Indian
Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi 110 012. *Corresponding author sangeeta.bhattacharyya2012@gmail.com

ABSTRACT
The phenomenon of lockdown due to COVID 19 has many ripple effects on society and the psychological system of the
citizens. One evident consequence has been the shift in crime rates across the country. The present study used information
available on the public platform and media news to present the crime scene during the lockdown period. While many of the
visible crimes like theft, robbery, burglary, dacoity, street molestation of women, etc. have gone down significantly as most
people are confined in their homes, some of the more complex crimes like domestic violence, child pornography, illegal
trafficking, alcohol smuggling, and suicides have gone up unexpectedly. The article also tries to give some probable
explanations for these phenomena and takes examples from the past economic crises in history to suggest what might be the
post lockdown crime picture in the country as many people are supposed to lose employment and there are high chances of
financial crunch.
Keywords: COVID 19, Lockdown, Crime, Unemployment, Financial crunch.

COVID 19 has proven to be one of the most
disastrous and terrifying pandemics the world has
witnessed in the century. So far, globally there have been
2,436,743 confirmed cases of COVID-19,
including 165,310 deaths, reported to WHO as of 22nd
April 2020 (https://covid19.who.int). Besides the
humongous health crisis worldwide along with the high
mortality rate, Covid-19 has many indirect effects on the
social system and economy of the nations. Apart from the
humanitarian crisis, crime in this period has undergone
many variations globally including India.
India and Lockdown: variations in social crime
dynamics
In India the first case of Covid-19 was reported
on 31st January, 2020while the first death occurred on
13th March 2020. Till 21st April 2020, India has
recorded 18,601 confirmed cases of COVID-19
with 590 deaths (https://covid19.who.int).
On 24 March, the Government of India ordered
a nationwide lockdown for 21 days, limiting movement
of the entire 1.3 billion population of India as a
preventive measure against the 2020 coronavirus
pandemic in India (Gettleman .and Schultz, 2020). On 14
April, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, based on
recommendations of State Governments, extended the
nationwide lockdown till 3 May, with a conditional
relaxation after 20 April for the regions where the spread
has been contained (Bhaskar, 2020).
The lockdown has brought multiple direct and
indirect consequences on the national economy and
therefore the society at large. Incidents of a pandemic
like COVID 19 do not come alone but are often riddled
with various socio-psychological phenomena of fear,
grief, chaos, financial crunch, frustration taking the form
of massive mass hysteria at times. COVID 19 has
affected the lives of citizens belonging to different socio-
economic classes in different ways. The present
communication deals with one facet of such
consequences which is a social crime.
The initiation of lockdowns has changed the
mobility of people drastically, and therefore, there has
been a dramatic change to the distribution of crime
opportunities as well. The lockdown has already shown
visible effects on the crime scene of the country as per
various reports available on public platforms and media
news. The total number of crimes registered in the
National Capital Region of the country so far this year
has dropped to 1,890 from 3,416 in the same period of
2019. The sharpest fall in crime rate in the country has
been reported in Delhi and Karnataka where crime rates
halved since the lockdown.
According to the latest Delhi Police data,
between March 15 and March 31, most of the crimes
have reduced by half. Since there are little to no people
on the streets due to lockdown, street crimes and fatal
road accidents have gone down and an increased police
presence and closed borders have contributed towards a
low rate in burglary and vehicle thefts. Severe checking
at the borders has caused a deterrent for criminals from
the neighbouring states.
Robbery, kidnapping and extortion to have
dipped tremendously. Cases of fights have gone down by
65% as most people are confined to their homes
(Business Today, 2020). The before-after scenario of
different crimes is presented in Figure 1.

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Eveteasing
Dacoty
Motor vehicles theft
Robberies After Lockdown
Kidnappings Before Lockdown
Molestation
Fights

0 500 1000 1500 2000

Fig.1: Reduction in crimes in major cities of India after the nationwide lockdown
But the scenario is not as rosy as it looks like.
There are always unanticipated consequences for almost
every action. So has been in the case of a lockdown.
While the more visible crimes have dropped to a
noteworthy extent some other forms of crimes that are
more difficult to easily apprehend have just emerged out
of the darkness caused by COVID 19. To cite a few
examples, crimes like domestic violence against women,
cybercrime, exposure to illicit pornography, illegal sale
of alcohol, incidents of suicide have spiked up. And the
very nature of these crimes is such that many of them go
unreported.
Coming first to the issue of violence against
women, in the first ten days of lockdown i.e., between 23
March to 1 April, a total of 257 cases of crime against
women have been registered online, according to the data
by the National Commission for Women. The types of
crime are depicted in Figure 2. According to NCW data,
altogether there were 291 complaints of domestic
violence in March (PTI (b), 2020).

Cases of crimes against women during lockdown

90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Loss of dignity Domestic Violence Police apathy Not categorized Rape/attempt to rape

Fig. 2: Number of cases of crimes against women which increased during a lockdown
The reason behind this could be unemployment
of men who are releasing their frustration over women,
more time of confinement of women in the house and
also incapability of women to walk out to report the
crime in the middle of lockdown. The non-availability of
liquor also plays a role as the addicts become more
abusive in absence of alcohol (Frrell and Nick, 2020).
The government of France has said that during the
lockdown duration, it would pay for hotel rooms for
victims of domestic violence and open pop-up
counselling centres as well. Considering the increasing
number of domestic violence cases in India, it’s high time
that gender-specific policies be rolled out for crises
(Srivastava, 2020).
The next issue that comes up is the consumption
of child pornography. According to the India Child
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Protection Fund (ICPF), there has been a steep increase
in traffic on Pornhub from India by 95 percent between
March 24 and 26, 2020, as compared to before the
lockdown. Over the last few weeks, international
agencies such as the Europol, the United Nations and End
Child Prostitution and Trafficking (ECPAT) have
reported that pedophiles and child pornography addicts
have been increasing their activities to lure children who
are now spending more time online. 18 percent of
individuals exhibited explicit intent for videos where
children were choking, bleeding, tortured, in pain or
screaming,” said the report. “The demand for this kind of
content grew as much as 200% during the project
duration. The assumption is that many of the people
being jobless and frustrated are channelizing their
frustration into such activities. Those who had such
intension earlier might not have gotten enough time to be
involved in the consumption of such content whose
hidden psychological evils have come out in the period of
lockdown as Dostoyevsky has quoted “When reason
fails, the devil helps” in his 1866 novel “Crime and
Punishment.”Besides these, some of the other forms of
theft have emerged. For example, the scarcity of some
products in the pandemic, such as facemasks and medical
equipment, makes them more attractive as targets for
theft. There have already been examples of thieves
stealing oxygen canisters from a hospital, raids on food
banks, scams and counterfeit goods relating to
coronavirus. In Kerala, the lockdown some criminals are
taking advantage of new opportunities such as organized
smuggling of people through closed borders for Rs.1, 000
for every person taken through, said the police (Khanna
and Das, 2020). The number of cyber attacks against
organizations and individuals is also significant and is
expected to increase. The current global health situation
has led to an increasing number of working from home
cases. Cybercriminals are attempting to take advantage of
the COVID-19 pandemic and are now turning their
attention to mobile devices to spread malware, including
spyware and ransom ware (PTI (b), 2020). The use of the
Zoom app has soared for video conferencing by people
for virtually meeting up friends and families at far off
places, for organizing online classes by teachers of
educational institutions and for conducting official
meetings as part of work from home culture amidst the
pandemic. The huge uptake of Zoom has created the new
phenomenon of 'zoo bombing' which sees uninvited
guests join video conferences, usually to shout abuse,
share pornography or make racist remarks (Wakefield,
2020).
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Another most shocking event has been an unexpected
spike in suicide rates across the country. As per Section
309 of the Indian Penal Code, an attempt to suicide is a
punishable offense (Anonymous, 2020). But the
lockdown has seen unprecedented, psychological,
economic, and humanitarian crises. Thejesh G.N, a
software developer from Bangalore is tracking lockdown
related deaths. According to him there have been 66
deaths recorded due to starvation, exhaustion, police
brutality, delayed medical help, or suicides due to loss of
income or lack of food. Another 42 deaths, including
many suicides, are linked to alcohol withdrawal. Suicides
due to fear of infection, loneliness and lack of freedom of
movement accounted for 51 deaths (Gilbert, 2020). In
this context, Ovid's masterpiece, Metamorphoses is still
relevant in explaining humanity’s experience of disease
pandemics in form of mass suicide out of the fears of
death. The looming economic crisis has already claimed
its first suicide victim: the German state of Hesse’s
finance minister Thomas Schäfer (Panayi, 2020). India is
not an exception in this painful event that the globe is
experiencing. The outbreak of Coronavirus which has led
to a nationwide lockdown has given rise to many mental
health issues. The lockdown has also led to
unemployment or business loss which has led people to
suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
People with pre-existing psychological issues are now
unable to receive proper therapy on time or have had to
go off prescription medication worsening their condition
(India Today, 2020).
There have been multiple reasons for suicide;
the most apprehensive one being the loss of economic
activities. A farmer in Bunda UP ended his life over the
non-availability of laborers for harvesting his wheat crop
due to the lockdown (India Today, 2020). Upset over
unemployment a Gurugram resident murdered his wife
and committed suicide (Goel, 2020). Unable to provide
food to his family amid the coronavirus lockdown, an
out of business snacks seller attempted suicide in
Madhya Pradesh (The New Indian Express, 2020).
Another very usual reason for suicide has been the non-
availability of alcohol amid lockdown. These cases are
more prominent in the southern states of the country.
Kerala, which has been battling coronavirus for two
months, had seen just two deaths from the infection when
the lockdown was announced, but within three days of
non-availability of liquor due to lockdown, more than six
people, mostly youngsters below 40, have committed
suicide. Many are also admitted to de-addiction canters
(Jayakumar, 2020). Most of the suicides due to alcohol
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withdrawal have taken place in the southern part of the
country. Surprisingly, the fear of infection and a sense of
confinement has also been an evident reason for suicide.
A 29-year-old woman, who had tested positive for
COVID-19, allegedly committed suicide in Central
Mumbai. A 35-year-old man, suffering from cough
and cold, committed suicide in the Banda district of
Uttar Pradesh because of the fear of coronavirus.
Driven by the fear of having contracted COVID-19
and forced by the villagers to go on quarantine, a 30-
year-old man ended his life in Odisha (The New
Indian Express, 2020). Quite surprisingly social
isolation has also affected some people to the extent
that they went on to take their lives. To cite an
example, a 23-Year-old youth took his life after being
barred from going outside the home by his parents due
to the lockdown (The New Indian Express, 2020).
These cases sound bizarre but unfortunately have
taken place in different parts of the country. The deep
psychological analysis of such vulnerabilities remains
to be a matter of research for the social scientist.
Scenario Analysis of Aftermath of Pandemic: Socio-
economic Context
Now the question arises “what is next?”
Whether the economic crisis and unemployment caused
by COVID 19 will cause a surge in social crime remains
to be a matter of debate. The end of lockdown may also
lead to sudden relaxation in social control which might
stimulate criminal minds that were confined for so long.
The relationship between unemployment and economic
crises has been articulated by many economists. The
argument is straightforward that if less legitimate work is
available, more illegal work would take place. Economist
Gary Becker, a Nobel laureate, developed a powerful
theory that crime is rational, that a person will commit a
crime if the expected utility exceeds that of using his time
and other resources in pursuit of alternative activities,
such as leisure or legitimate work (Wilson, 2011). Early
estimates of jobs data indicate that the coronavirus effect
might have left a devastating impact on the economy,
sending the urban unemployment rate soaring to 30.9%.
Overall unemployment rose to 23.4% (Sreevatsan, 2020).
A labour market crunch right now can easily turn into a
nightmare besides the possibility of social unrest as 136
million jobs will be at risk (Das, 2020).
On the contrary, there is also an argument that
the big companies would try to recover their losses from
lockdown by spiking up their production rate which will
create employment for casual and daily wage workers.
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All these are still assumptions. If we look back to similar
situations in past we have the evidence of the Bengal
famine. After the Bengal famine during 1866, 1873-74,
1896-97 crime rates surged up in Bengal and Bihar due to
scarcity of food and economic crisis from 1871 to 1905
(Mukherjee, 1993). During the great depression, a lot of
Americans became criminals. Many working civilians
became unemployed. The Unemployment rate reached an
all-time high in 1933 at 24.75%. The abuse was common
as drug use in the 1930s for casual use rose. There was an
alcohol prohibition during the great depression (Hamvai,
2017). Child crime also began to rise during the Great
Depression and most of these children came from poor
unemployed families (King, 2009). The suicide rate also
rose to a record high of 21.9 per 100,000 people in 1932,
in the face of the Great Depression. Theft, prostitution,
and alcohol-related crime began to increase with the
global recession of 2007-08(Marshal, 2012). According
to the UN Report after 2007-08 recessions, countries with
large income disparities were four times more likely to be
plagued by violent crime than more equitable societies.
Moreover, the results show that economic slowdown is
also related to homicides. For instance, the report states
that in selected countries the murder rate went up during
and after the economic crisis of 2007-2008 after a sharp
decline of national indicators such as gross domestic
product, consumer price index, and unemployment
(Lemieux, 2013).
Conclusion
One thing is evident the COVID 19 and the
lockdown has revealed many of the hidden facets of
society some of which require analysis by the
psychologists and social scientists in the future. How and
why people reacted in certain ways and let their inner
demons come out when they were confined even if there
was no direct need for doing so needs further analysis
again. All these facts and figures mentioned in the article
can only lead us to certain speculations. What the country
is going to face in the post lockdown period will only be
prominent after a certain time is spent and when the
pandemic stops to exhibit its venomous effect on society.
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