New Delhi: There has been a 4 percent increase in registered crimes against women in India, according to the 2022 National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report released Sunday, as compared to 2021.
While the 2022 NCRB report shows 4,45,256 cases reported under crimes against women, in 2021, this number was 4,28,278. The 2021 NCRB report had shown a spike of 15.3 percent in crimes against women as compared to cases in 2020.
Meanwhile, registration of offences under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) continues to see a dip – down to 35,61,379 in 2022 from 36,63,360 in 2021, a fall of 2.78 percent. Previously, the dip in 2021 from 2022 was 13.9 percent.
Under ‘Offences against State’, 5,610 cases were registered in 2022 as compared to 5,164 in 2021 — an overall increase of 8.6 percent. Of these 5,610 cases, 4,403 (or 78.5 percent) were registered under The Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, followed by 1,005 (17.9 percent) under The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
There has also been a spike of 24.4 percent in the number of cases reported under cybercrimes — from 52,974 cases in 2021 to 65,893 in 2022.
In 2022, 64.8 percent of cybercrime cases registered were for the motive of fraud, followed by extortion (5.5 percent), and Sexual Exploitation (5.2 percent).
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Crimes against women
The vast majority of cases against women under various sections of the IPC were registered under sub heads of ‘Cruelty by Husband or His Relatives’ (31.4 percent), followed by ‘Kidnapping & Abduction of Women’ (19.2 percent), ‘Assault on Women with Intent to Outrage her Modesty’ (18.7 percent), and ‘Rape’ (7.1 percent).
In 2021, the maximum number of cases were reported under the category of ‘Cruelty by Husband or His Relatives’ (31.8 percent), followed by ‘Assault on Women with Intent to Outrage her Modesty’ (20.8 percent), ‘Kidnapping & Abduction of Women’ (17.6 percent), and ‘Rape’ (7.4 percent).
In 2022, Delhi registered the highest number of cases under crimes against women amongst metropolitan cities with 14,158 cases for the third consecutive year. Under categories of ‘Assault on Women with Intent to Outrage her Modesty’ and ‘Kidnapping & Abduction of Women’, Delhi tops among the 19 metropolitan cities.
Among all states, Uttar Pradesh topped the list again with the highest number of registered cases against women under sections of the IPC and Special and Local Laws with 65,743 cases, followed by Maharashtra with 45,331 cases, and Rajasthan with 45,058 cases. In 2021, UP had 56,083 registered cases of crimes against women, followed by Rajasthan (40,738 cases). Among Union territories, Delhi leads in this category with 14,247 cases in 2022.
Under the category of ‘Murder with rape/gangrape’, Uttar Pradesh has topped the list again in 2022 with 62 such registered cases, followed by Madhya Pradesh at 41.
Last year, it was Assam that had trailed UP in this category with 46 cases. The state has shown a major dip this year with only 14 such cases registered.
In Dowry death cases, UP again leads with 2,138 cases registered in 2022, followed by Bihar with 1,057 cases.
While a total of 31,677 incidents of rape were registered across India in 2021, 2022 saw a minor dip with 31,516 cases. In this category, Rajasthan leads again, though with a small dip this year — from 6,337 in 2021 to 5,399 in 2022 — followed by Uttar Pradesh at 3,690.
Crimes against children
Under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, Uttar Pradesh tops the list with 7,955 cases reported, followed by Maharashtra with 7,467.
A total of 62,095 cases were registered under sections of the POCSO across the country in 2022.
Moreover, a total of 667 cases were registered under the ‘Use of Child for Pornography/ Storing Child Pornography Material’ category in 2022, with the highest number of such registered cases in Bihar (201), followed by Rajasthan (170).
There has also been an overall increase of 8.7 percent in crimes against children in 2022 with a total of 1,62,449 cases as against 1,49,404 cases in 2021.
Crimes against SC/ST
According to the latest NCRB report, 57,582 cases were registered in 2022 under crimes against Scheduled Castes (SCs) — a spike of 13.1 percent from 2021, when 50,900 such cases were reported.
The highest percentage of cases were reported under the category of simple hurt with 18,428 such cases, followed by 5,274 cases under ‘Criminal Intimidation’, and 4,703 cases under SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Uttar Pradesh topped the list here, too, with 15,368 cases — a steady increase from 13,146 in 2021. Similarly, Rajasthan also trailed with 8,752 cases, an increase from 7,524 in 2021.
In India, a total of 4,241 cases of rape against SCs were registered in 2022, with Rajasthan leading the way with 658 cases, followed by UP with 646 cases.
There has also been an increase in crimes committed against Scheduled Tribes (STs) with an overall spike of 14.3 percent (10,064 cases), as against 2021 (8,802 cases). In 2022, 1,347 cases of rape against STs were registered in 2022, with Madhya Pradesh leading the way with 359 such cases.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)