Nepal has seen a continuous rise in crime rates over the past five fiscal years, police data shows.

According to the data, the country recorded 28,070 incidents of crime in the fiscal year 2014/15, which rose to 28,563 in the following fiscal year. Similarly, Nepal recorded 31,460 incidents of crime in the fiscal 2016/17; 31,315 in 2017/18; and 39,389 in 2018/19.

The data shows that the crime rate in 2018/19 was the highest in comparison to the previous four fiscal years. As many as 6,233 cases of murder were registered in the country in the last fiscal year along with 5,155 cases of suicide and 3,999 cases related to women and children, including rape.

“Murder, attempted murder, fraud, human trafficking, rape, attempted rape, kidnapping, drug smuggling, robbery, dealing in small arms, theft, cybercrime and social crimes remain the biggest challenges to law and order,” said Senior Superintendent of Police Uttam Raj Subedi, also the chief of Kathmandu Metropolitan Police Range.

Security officials conceded that the crime rates has not subsided, and attributed the rise in crime to unemployment and poor financial condition. Crime rates are higher in big cities than in smaller ones and rural areas, as the chances of being recognised and arrested in a large mobile population are lower, according to police.

Nepal Police has been organising various campaigns to make good relations with the public. Community-Police Partnership Programme is one such drive and it’s working towards building a peaceful and secure society by coordinating with the community, said Deputy Inspector General Bishwaraj Pokharel, spokesperson for the Nepal Police.

“People have now become aware and are friendly to the police due to which they have started reporting crimes like cyberbullying, banking offences and other social crimes, which wouldn’t get reported in the past,” said Pokharel. “Around 76,000 officers work out of 2,344 permanent and over 500 temporary police stations across the country to maintain law and order.”

The police, meanwhile, have also urged people to immediately report to the law enforcing agency if they are being subjected to physical or mental torture.