National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has recently unveiled its annual report titled “Crime in India for 2022,” providing a comprehensive overview of crime trends across the nation.
National Crime Records Bureau
- NCRB was set up in 1986 to function as a repository of information on crime and criminals to assist the investigators in linking the crime to the perpetrators based on the recommendations of the Tandon Committee, National Police Commission (1977-1981) and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) Taskforce (1985).
- It is part of the MHA and is headquartered in New Delhi.
- It also acts as a “national warehouse” for the fingerprint records of Indian and foreign criminals, and assists in locating interstate criminals through fingerprint search.
- The NCRB has four divisions: Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS), Crime Statistics, Finger Prints, and Training.
Key Highlights of NCRB’s Crime in India 2022 Report
Overall Crime Statistics
- A total of over 58,00,000 cognizable crimes were registered, comprising both the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Special & Local Laws(SLL) crimes.
- The registration of cases witnessed a 4.5% decline compared to 2021.
Crime Rate Decline
- The crime rate per lakh population dropped from 445.9 in 2021 to 422.2 in 2022.
- This decline is considered a more reliable indicator, considering the impact of population growth on absolute crime numbers.
Safest City
- Kolkata emerged as the safest city in India for the third consecutive year, recording the least number of cognisable offences per lakh population among metropolises.
- Pune (Maharashtra) and Hyderabad (Telangana) secured the second and third positions, respectively.
Rise in Cyber Crimes
- Cybercrime reporting surged by 24.4%, totalling 65,893 cases, a significant surge from 52,974 cases in 2021.
- Cyber fraud constituted the majority of cases (64.8%) of registered cases, followed by extortion (5.5%), and sexual exploitation (5.2%).
- The crime rate under this category rose from 3.9 in 2021 to 4.8 in 2022.
Suicides and Causes
- In 2022, India witnessed a significant surge in suicides, totalling over 1.7 Lakh cases, reflecting a concerning increase of 4.2% compared to 2021.
- The suicide rate also rose by 3.3%, calculated as the number of suicides per lakh of the population.
- Major causes included ‘Family Problems,’ ‘Marriage Related Problems,’ Bankruptcy and indebtedness, ‘Unemployment and professional issues’ and Illness’.
- Maharashtra reported the highest number of suicides, followed closely by Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Telangana.
- Daily wage earners constituted a significant portion, accounting for 26.4% of the total suicides.
- Agricultural workers and farmers were also disproportionately affected, forming a substantial part of the suicide statistics.
- This was followed by unemployed persons, who comprise 9.2% of all suicides reported in India in 2022. Among all suicides reported in the year, over 12,000 were of students.
Escalating Crimes Against SCs and STs
- The Crime in India report highlighted an overall increase in crimes and atrocities against Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) persons.
- States like Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Telangana experienced a surge in such cases in 2022.
- Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan persist as key contributors, consistently ranking among the top five states with the highest occurrences of crimes and atrocities against SC and ST communities.
- Other states witnessing elevated levels of such offences include Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, and Punjab.
Crimes Against Women
- A total of 4,45,256 cases of crime against women were reported in 2022, marking a 4% increase from 2021.
- Dominant categories included ‘Cruelty by Husband or His Relatives,’ ‘Kidnapping & Abduction of Women,’ and ‘Assault on Women with Intent to Outrage Her Modesty.’
Crimes Against Children
- Cases of crimes against children showed an increase of 8.7% compared to 2021.
- A majority of these cases related to kidnapping and abduction (45.7%) and 39.7% were filed under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.
Crime against Senior Citizens
- Cases of crimes against senior citizens rose by 9.3% to 28,545 cases compared to 26,110 cases in 2021.
- A bulk of these cases (27.3%) related to hurt followed by theft (13.8%) and forgery, cheating, and fraud (11.2%).
Animal Attacks on the Rise
- The NCRB report reveals a concerning trend in the number of people dying or getting injured due to animal attacks.
- A significant 19% increase in such incidents was recorded in 2022 compared to 2021.
- Maharashtra reported the highest number of cases, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, and Madhya Pradesh followed with varying numbers of reported cases.
- In addition, the number of animal/reptile and insect bites cases also increased by 16.7%.
- The highest number of bite cases were reported from Rajasthan followed by Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh, respectively.
Offences Against the State
- Offences against the State exhibited a slight increase in 2022 compared to the previous year.
- There was approximately a 25% rise in cases registered under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) during this period.
- Conversely, cases under the sedition Section of the IPC experienced a significant decline.
- The decrease in sedition cases may be attributed to the Supreme Court’s decision in May 2022 to keep sedition cases in abeyance (hold).
Rise in Economic Offences
- Economic offences are categorized into criminal breach of trust, forgery, cheating, fraud (FCF), and counterfeiting.
- FCF accounted for the majority of cases (1,70,901 cases), followed by criminal breach of trust (21,814 cases) and counterfeiting (670 cases).
- The Crime in India report disclosed that government authorities confiscated fake Indian currency notes (FICN) totaling over Rs.342 crore in 2022.
Crimes Against Foreigners
- 192 cases registered against foreigners, a 28% increase from 150 cases in 2021.
- 56.8% of victims were from the Asian continent, while 18% were from African countries.
High Chargesheeting Rates
- States with the highest charge sheeting rates under IPC crimes are Kerala, Puducherry, and West Bengal.
- Chargesheeting rate reflects cases where police reached the stage of framing charges against the accused, out of the total true cases (where a charge sheet was not laid but a final report submitted as true, plus the total cases charge-sheeted).