NCRB report says surge in crime against women and children by 4 percent

By: Pune Pulse

December 5, 2023

Pune: The latest annual report from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) reveals an increase in crimes against women, children, senior citizens, Scheduled Castes (SC), and Scheduled Tribes (ST) by 4%, 8.7%, 9.3%, 13.1%, and 14.3%, respectively. Additionally, economic offenses rose by 11.1%, corruption by 10.5%, and cybercrimes by 24.4% in 2022.

The report titled ‘Crime in India 2022’ has been compiled using data gathered from 36 states, Union territories, and central agencies. It was officially published on Friday and subsequently made available to the public on Sunday.

The annual report offers valuable insights to legislators, the Union, and state governments, as well as scholars, students, and other stakeholders engaged in policy formulation and analysis. The release of the NCRB report, which is typically expected in July or August each year, was postponed by a minimum of five months.

According to the report, there were 445,256 instances of crimes against women recorded in 2022, indicating a 4% rise compared to the 428,278 cases in 2021. The report further highlighted that the majority of these cases were related to cruelty by spouses or their relatives (31.4%), followed by kidnapping and abduction (19.2%), assault ‘with intent to outrage modesty’ (18.7%), and rape (7.1%).

In 2022, Rajasthan had the highest number of reported rape cases, with a total of 5,399 out of 31,516 cases. Uttar Pradesh followed with 3,690 cases, while Madhya Pradesh had 3,029, Maharashtra had 2,904, and Haryana had 1,787 cases. Delhi reported 1,212 rape cases in the previous year. According to the report, the crime rate per lakh of women increased from 64.5 in 2021 to 66.4 in 2022.

In 2022, a total of 162,449 cases of crimes against children were reported, indicating an 8.7% rise (149,404 cases) from the previous year. The majority of these cases were related to kidnapping and abduction, accounting for 45.7% of the total, while 39.7% were filed under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.

In 2022, there was a significant increase in crimes committed against senior citizens, with a total of 28,545 cases reported, representing a 9.3% rise from the previous year’s 26,110 cases. The majority of these cases, 27.3%, or 7,805, were related to hurt, followed by theft at 13.8%, or 3,944 cases, and forgery, cheating, and fraud at 11.2%, or 3,201 cases. On the other hand, crimes against ST rose by 14.3%, from 8,802 to 10,064 cases in the same period. Meanwhile, crimes against SC increased by 13.1%, from 50,900 cases in 2021 to 57,582 cases in 2022.

According to the NCRB report, there was an 11.1% rise in economic offenses, with a total of 1,74,013 cases reported. In 2022, there were 4,139 corruption cases registered, which is a 10.5% increase from the 3,745 cases recorded in 2021. Additionally, cybercrimes saw a significant increase of 24.4%, with 65,893 cases reported in 2022 compared to 52,974 cases in 2021.