In News:
- Registered violent crimes increased across India in 2021, after a decrease in these major offences in 2020 due to pandemic-related restrictions.
- Violent crimes include murder, dowry death, grievous hurt, kidnapping and crimes against children, rape and others.
- This was revealed by the National Crime Records Bureau's (NCRB) recent 'Crime in India' report, which includes data for 2021.
What’s in today’s article:
- About NCRB
- News Summary (Highlights of the Crime in India report)
National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB):
- NCRB is an Indian government agency (headquartered in New Delhi) established in 1986 and is part of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Government of India.
- It was set up based on the recommendation of the National Police Commission, 1977 and a Task force, 1985.
- It is responsible for collecting and analysing crime data (as defined by the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Special and Local Laws) as well as serving as a repository of such information to aid investigators in tracing crimes and criminals.
- NCRB was entrusted with the responsibility for monitoring, coordinating and implementing the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network & Systems (CCTNS) project in the year 2009.
- In 2017, NCRB launched the National Digital Police Portal, which allows police officers to look for a criminal or suspect on the CCTNS database and gives citizens with services such as online complaint filing, etc.
- Along with the Crime in India report (oldest and most prestigious publication brought out by NCRB), It also publishes - Prisons Statistics India Report.
News Summary - Highlights of the Crime in India report:
- Overall registered cognisable crimes:
- The number of overall registered cognisable crimes saw a 7.6% decrease from 66 lakh in 2020 to 60.9 lakh in 2021.
- The crime rate (crimes per 1 lakh people) also decreased from 487.8 in 2020 to 445.9 in 2021.
- The decline in overall crimes in 2021 can be attributed to a sharp decrease in cases registered under Section 188 of IPC (disobedience to order duly promulgated by a public servant).
- Such cases were registered mainly over violations of COVID-19 norms.
- Crime rate in States:
- In 2021, the rate of violent crimes (per 1 lakh people) among major States was the highest in Assam (76.6 violent crimes per 1 lakh people) followed by Delhi and West Bengal.
- The rate was lowest in Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
- Crime against women:
- It rose by 15.3% in 2021 from the previous year, with 4,28,278 cases registered last year.
- A majority of these cases (31.8 %) fall in the category of “Cruelty by husband or his relatives’’, followed by “Assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty”, kidnapping and abduction and rape (7.4 %).
- Nagaland stood out with the lowest number and rate (5.5 %) of crimes against women registered in the past three years - 43 in 2019, 39 in 2020 and 54 in 2021.
- It also had the lowest crime rate against women for 2021 at 5.5 %.
- Sedition:
- 76 cases for sedition were registered in 2021 in the country under IPC Section 124A (73 in 2020), of which the maximum (29) was in Andhra Pradesh.
- For Andhra Pradesh, this was in sharp contrast to 2020, when no sedition case was recorded in the state.
- Cybercrimes:
- According to the most recent NCRB report, Telangana (10,303), followed by UP and Karnataka, leads in the number of recorded cyber offences.
- Also, Telangana has the highest rate of cybercrime (27.3%) in India, followed by Assam and Karnataka.
- For the second year in a row, Sikkim recorded no cybercrime cases in 2021.
- Suicide by farmers & Crime against children
