Crimes on the up: FIRs for counterfeiting currency increase by 44 per district in one month

Forced marriage most frequently reported, rape most widely reported.

ISLAMABAD: The State Bank of Pakistan had promised that the new set of notes were designed such to prevent counterfeit. However, this has not deterred those determined to proliferate fake copies, as demonstrated by an increase in First Information Reports (FIRs) against the discovery of counterfeit monies being traded across Pakistan of up to 44 per district.

The report had been compiled and unveiled by the non-government organisation Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) at their Islamabad office on Thursday. They had collated data based on monitoring of 78 offices of the District Police Officers across Pakistan.

The report recorded 44 FIRs per district for counterfeit money per district in January 2012 as compared to 37 per district in December, 2011 and 28 per district in November 2011.

The report, further revealed that of the 2,906 reports monitored under threat, fraud and counterfeiting category, forged currency accounted for 1,902 reports in 43 districts, making it the most frequent and widely reported crime.

Lahore topped this list for such reports with 644 FIRs, followed by Faisalabad (260) and Gujranwala (174).

Under the threat and fraud category, 14 per cent of the FIRs were for cheating, another 13 per cent for criminal breach of trust, six per cent for criminal intimidation and one per cent each for offences against public tranquillity, fraudulent deeds and dispossession of property.

The report said Punjab had the highest percentage (89 per cent) of FIRs for threat and fraud crimes. In contrast, reportage for the same category was quite low in Sindh (six per cent), followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (five per cent) and Balochistan (one per cent). There was no case filed under the category for Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) in the month monitored.

The report stated that better outreach, lack of parallel judicial systems and a higher confidence level shared by the police and the public may have been among the probable reasons for better crime reportage in Punjab than in other areas of Pakistan.

As many as 36,567 FIRs were filed for the 27 observed crimes in the observed month – 58 per cent of the FIRs falling in the category of 'other crimes', followed by crimes pertaining to property (23 per cent), physical harm to people and threat and fraud crimes (eight per cent each) and crimes against women (two per cent

According to the report, out of 8,405 FIRs filed for crimes pertaining to property, those registered for theft were 32 per cent, motor vehicle lifting 23 per cent, robbery and dacoity 20 per cent, motor vehicle snatching 11 per cent, criminal trespass 10 per cent, criminal misappropriation of property three per cent and extortion one per cent.

There were 2,999 FIRs lodged for crimes resulting in physical harm to people. Hurt was the most frequent 43 per cent, followed by attempted murder 25 per cent and murder 22 per cent. Faisalabad, Lahore and Peshawar had the highest reportage of such cases.

Out of 855 cases of crimes committed against women, forced marriage was the most frequently reported and rape the most widely reported crimes. Across 31 districts, 338 cases of forced marriages were registered while 34 districts reported 185 cases of rape.

Another 206 FIRs were filed for attack on modesty, 105 for offences relating to marriage, 19 for honour killing and two for word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman.

Correction: An earlier version of this report incorrectly put rise in FIRs of forged banknotes as a percentage. This figure was a rise in per district reporting. The error is regretted.