How many people were murdered in India in 2022? Which state tops the list?

In 2022, there were 28,522 murder cases reported in India, averaging 78 killings per day or more than three every hour. This is a decrease from 29,272 in 2021 and 29,193 in 2020, as per the latest National Crime Records Bureau data.

The primary motives behind these cases were ‘disputes’ (9,962 cases), ‘personal vendetta or enmity’ (3,761 cases), and ‘gain’ (1,884 cases).

The murder rate per lakh population across the country was 2.1, and the chargesheeting rate for such cases was 81.5.

These are just a few of the significant findings from the new National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report on murders in India.

Uttar Pradesh tops the list of murder cases

Uttar Pradesh saw the highest number of such FIRs at 3,491 in 2022 followed by Bihar (2,930), Maharashtra (2,295), Madhya Pradesh (1,978) and Rajasthan (1,834), with the top five states together accounting for 43.92 per cent of murder cases in the country, the data showed.

The top five states with the least number of murder cases in 2022 were Sikkim (nine), Nagaland (21), Mizoram (31), Goa (44), and Manipur (47), according to the NCRB, which is tasked with collection and analysis of crime data.

Among Union Territories, Delhi, the national capital, registered 509 cases of murder in 2022 followed by Jammu and Kashmir (99), Puducherry (30), Chandigarh (18), Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (16), Andaman and Nicobar Islands (seven), Ladakh (five) and Lakshadweep (Zero).

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Across India in 2022, the murder rate was highest in Jharkhand (four), followed by Arunachal Pradesh (3.6), Chhattisgarh and Haryana (both 3.4), Assam and Odisha (both three).

Uttar Pradesh (1.5), Bihar (2.3), Maharashtra (1.8), Madhya Pradesh (2.3) and Rajasthan (2.3) fared better in terms of crime per lakh population.

What we know about the victims

In terms of age, 95.4 per cent victims of murder were adults.

Of total murder victims, 8,125 were female and nine third-gender persons, with men constituting about 70 per cent of victims, according to the NCRB.

In a note of caution about the annual report, the NCRB said the primary presumption that the upward swing in police data indicates an increase in crime and thus a reflection of the ineffectiveness of the police is fallacious.

“‘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,” it stated.

“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, etc.

“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,” it added.

With inputs from PTI