NCRB data: 7% rise in crimes against women

CRIMES AGAINST women increased 7.3 per cent from 2018 to 2019, and crimes against Scheduled Castes also went up 7.3 per cent in the same period, according to the annual National Crime Record Bureau’s “Crime in India” 2019 report released on Tuesday.

In terms of absolute numbers, Uttar Pradesh reported the highest number of cases in both these categories. But Assam reported the highest rate of crimes against women (per lakh population), while Rajasthan had the highest rate of crimes against Scheduled Castes.

“A total of 4,05,861 cases of crime against women were registered during 2019, showing an increase of 7.3% over 2018 (3,78,236 cases). Majority of cases under crime against women under IPC were registered under ‘cruelty by husband or his relatives’ (30.9%), followed by ‘assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty’ (21.8%), ‘kidnapping & abduction of women’ (17.9%) and ‘rape’ (7.9%). The crime rate registered per lakh women population is 62.4 in 2019 in comparison with 58.8 in 2018,” says the NCRB report.

UP reported the highest number of crimes against women (59,853), accounting for 14.7 per cent of such cases across the country. It was followed by Rajasthan (41,550 cases; 10.2 per cent) and Maharashtra (37,144 cases; 9.2 per cent). Assam reported the highest rate of crime against women at 177.8 (per lakh population), followed by Rajasthan (110.4) and Haryana (108.5).

Rajasthan reported the highest number of rapes with 5,997 cases, followed by UP (3,065) and Madhya Pradesh (2,485). In terms of rate of rape cases, Rajasthan was the highest at 15.9 (per lakh population), followed by Kerala (11.1) and Haryana (10.9).

UP also had the highest number of crimes against girl children under the POCSO Act with 7,444 cases, followed by Maharashtra (6,402) and MP (6,053). The highest rate of these crimes were in Sikkim (27.1 per lakh population), MP (15.1), and Haryana (14.6).

UP had the highest number of dowry cases (2,410), at a rate of 2.2 (per lakh population), followed by Bihar (1,120). According to the report, 150 acid attacks were reported in 2019, of which 42 took place in UP and 36 in West Bengal.

The report, which runs into three volumes and is over 1,500 pages, says a total of 45,935 cases were registered as crime against Scheduled Castes (SCs), “showing an increase of 7.3% over 2018 (42,793 cases)”.

“Crime rate registered showed an increase from 21.2 (per lakh population) in 2018 to 22.8 in 2019. Crime head-wise cases revealed that simple hurt with 28.9% (13,273 cases) formed the largest chunk of cases of crimes/ atrocities against Scheduled Castes during 2019. It was followed by cases under SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act with 9.0% (4,129 cases), and cases under rape with 7.6% (3,486 cases),” says the report.

UP reported the most cases against Scheduled Castes – 11,829 cases, accounting for 25.8 per cent of the cases across the country. It was followed by Rajasthan (6,794 cases; 14.8 per cent) and Bihar (6,544; 14.2 per cent). However, the rate of such cases was highest in Rajasthan at 55.6 (per lakh population), followed by MP (46.7) and Bihar (39.5).

Rajasthan also had the highest number of rapes against Dalit women (554), followed by UP (537) and MP (510). The rate of rape against Dalit women was highest in Kerala at 4.6 (per lakh population), followed by MP (4.5) and Rajasthan (4.5).

What are the categories of the data?

• The NCRB has introduced more than three dozen new categories and sub-categories of crimes under various heads.
• At least four categories where significant diversification of data can be seen are –
• Crimes against women and children
• Atrocities against Dalits
• Cases of corruption
• Time taken by police and courts to take cases to their conclusion
• For the first time, the NCRB has introduced categories of cyber crimes against women and children.
• In the case of Dalits, the NCRB has for the first time published data on offences registered solely under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
• The further categorisation under this includes insult, land grab and social ostracism.
• The NCRB has also recorded cases of disproportionate assets against public servants.
• The other heads include abetment, criminal intimidation, simple hurt, credit/debit card and online frauds, Internet crimes through online gaming and kidnapping for begging among others.
• Importantly, for the first time, the NCRB has dwelt on not just pendency of cases (with the police and courts) but also the period of such pendency.