Cruelty by husband, kidnapping & more: How crimes against women are on the rise again in India

The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) on Monday released its annual crime report, painting a dire image of women’s safety in India. The report indicates a four per cent rise in crimes against women, with over 4,45,256 cases reported in 2022. This corresponds to roughly 51 FIRs each hour. Comparing 2021’s 4,28,278 cases with 2020’s 371,503 cases, this was a significant increase. According to the NCRB’s findings, there were 66.4 crimes committed for every lakh people, and 75.8 charge sheets were filed in these cases. “Cruelty by husband” tops the list In 2022, there was a four per cent rise in crime against women in India, with the majority of incidents being “cruelty by husbands or his relatives” (31.4 per cent). This was followed by other crimes like rape, kidnapping and abduction, and assault with the intention of outraging modesty and more. In terms of numbers, the NCRB report puts the total number of “cruelty by husbands or his relatives” cases at around 1.40 lakh, with 1.44 lakh victims. As evidence of a persistent pattern, such cases accounted for 31.8 per cent (1.36 lakh) of all crimes committed against women in 2021, an almost two per cent increase over 2020. Other crimes against women 2022 also witnessed a high 66.4 total crime rate per lakh women, up from 64.5 in 2021. Contrary to the previous year’s pattern, kidnapping and abduction of women accounted for the second-highest percentage of crimes in 2022 (19.2 per cent), translating to 85,310 instances and 88,243 victims. Cases of assaults on women with intent to outrage her modesty (18.7 per cent) and rape (7.1 per cent) came next. In 2022, there were 248 murder cases with rape or gang-rape involving 250 victims, according to the report. There were 284 cases with 293 victims in 2021. [caption id=“attachment_13466892” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Students from various colleges holding placards as they shout slogans during rally against gender discrimination and violence towards women in Mumbai 10 December 2014. Reuters[/caption] According to data on rape incidents, there were 31,982 victims — including 1,017 girls under the age of 18 — and 31,516 cases. Delhi takes the lead With 14,247 cases, Delhi has recorded the highest rate of crime against women in the nation in 2022 at 144 — a rate far higher than the national average of 66.4. In 2021, there were 14,277 cases and 10,093 in 2020. When it comes to crimes against senior citizens, the National Capital ranked first among metropolitan areas. According to the data, there were 1,313 reports of crimes against the elderly in Delhi last year, up from 1,166 in 2021 and 906 in 2020. Coming back to crimes against women, Uttar Pradesh (65,743) topped the list, followed by Maharashtra (45,331), Rajasthan (45,059), West Bengal (34,738), and Madhya Pradesh (32,765). Together, these five states were responsible for around half of all cases filed in the the country in 2022. 12 states and Union Territories had crime rates that were greater than the 66.4 national average, according to NCRB data. Delhi came in first place with a crime rate of 144.4, followed by Haryana with an average crime rate of 118.7, Telangana 117, Rajasthan 115.1, Odisha 103, Andhra Pradesh 96.2, Andaman and Nicobar Islands 93.7, Kerala 82, Assam 81, Madhya Pradesh 78.8, Uttarakhand 77, Maharashtra 75.1, West Bengal 71.8 and UP 58.6. An upward swing in crime The aforementioned crimes have increased when compared to NCRB data from 2021. Based on the available data, India recorded 58,24,946 cognizable offences in 2022, which is 4.5 per cent less than the previous year. This included 22,63,567 offences under the Special and Local Laws (SLL) and 35,61,379 offences under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), representing a reduction of seven per cent and 2.8 per cent respectively, as per India Today. In addition, there was an 8.7 per cent increase in crime against children, mostly due to incidents involving kidnapping, abduction, and offences covered by the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. The in-depth analysis revealed an uneven picture of trends across multiple crime categories. Certain categories showed encouraging decreases, while others — crimes against women, children, and other demographic groups, for example — saw alarming increases. Crimes that involve the human body, such as abductions and injury cases, have increased by 5.3 per cent last year, necessitating the implementation of more stringent measures to protect the public’s safety and welfare. The 11.1 per cent and 24.4 per cent increase in economic and cyber offences indicate the need for more robust cybersecurity policies and procedures to stop financial fraud. Increase of 9.3 per cent, 13.1 per cent, and 14.3 per cent of crimes against Senior Citizens, Scheduled Castes, and Scheduled Tribes, highlights the need for focused actions aimed at protecting these vulnerable populations. According to the NCRB, an increase in police data (FIR) does not imply a rise in crime. It indicates that an increasing number of people are reporting crimes. “’Rise in crime’ and ‘increase in registration of crime by police’ are clearly two different things, a fact which requires better understanding. Thus, an oft-repeated expectation from certain quarters that an effective police administration will be able to keep the crime figures low is misplaced,” the NCRB said, as per Livemint. “Increase in crime numbers in a state police data may in fact be on account of certain citizen-centric police initiatives, like launching of e-FIR facility or women helpdesks,” it said, adding, “The increase or decrease in crime numbers, however, does call for a professional investigation of underlying factors pertaining to the local communities to suitably address the pertinent issues.”