40 per cent of crimes against senior citizens in 2014-16 in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh

Nearly 40 per cent of crimes against senior citizens in the country between 2014 and 2016 were reported from the two states of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, government figures show.

According to Home Ministry statistics, Delhi was among the top seven states in such crimes though it recorded a sharp decline in 2016.

In 2016, 40.03 per cent of the total 21,410 cases of crimes across India against senior citizens -- people aged 60 years and above -- were reported from Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, the data showed.

A total of 7,419 cases of such crimes were registered in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh in 2014, or 39.64 per cent of 18,714 cases filed in the country that year, while in 2015, out of 20,532 cases, 39.04 per cent were filed in the two states, a home ministry official said, quoting the statistics incorporated in the report 'Crimes in India'.

Maharashtra's population is 9.29 per cent and Madhya Pradesh's 6 per cent of the country's total population.

Individually, Maharashtra topped the list with 3,981, 4,561 and 4,694 cases in 2014, 2015 and 2016 respectively.

The crimes included assaults, cheating and robbery.

Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Chhattisgarh followed Madhya Pradesh with the most number of such cases.

In Delhi, 1,021 cases (5.45 per cent) were registered in 2014, and 1,248 cases (6.07) per cent in 2015.

In 2016, the year for which the latest figures are available, Delhi saw 685 cases or 3.19 per cent of the total number of cases across the country.

The population of the National Capital Territory is 1.38 per cent of India's total population.

No cases of crime against senior citizens were registered in Jammu and Kashmir between 2014 and 2016, the data show.

Uttarakhand and the northeastern states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland reported fewer than 10 such cases in the three years.