New Delhi: Due to Covid-19 pandemic and several lockdowns since March 2020, the crime against women, children and senior citizens have declined, whereas cases of communal riots and cyber crime have witnessed a significant jump from last year.
In an annual report “Crime in India 2020” released by the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) showed, “A total of 3,71,503 cases of crime against women were registered during 2020, showing a decline of 8.3% over 2019 (4,05,326 cases).”
It said the “Majority cases of crime against women registered under IPC were related to ‘Cruelty by Husband or His Relatives’ stood at 30.0% followed by ‘Assault on Women with Intent to Outrage her Modesty’ 23.0%, ‘Kidnapping & Abduction of Women’ 16.8% and ‘Rape’ is 7.5%.
According to the latest data, “communal riots registered an increase of nearly 90% in 2020 over the previous year as 438 cases of communal riots were registered in 2019 and 857 cases were registered in 2020, as per the data. Similarly, caste riots saw an increase of close to 50%, agrarian riots 38% and riots during ‘andolan/morcha’ increased by 33%.
The crime against Children also showed a decline of 13.2 per cent.
“A total of 1,28,531 cases of crime against children were registered during 2020, showing a decrease of 13.2% over 2019 (1,48,090 cases),” the data mentioned.
According to the latest NCRB data, more than 17,000 offences targeting children – the country’s highest figure – were registered within Madhya Pradesh in 2020.
The cases registered under Disobedience to order duly promulgated by Public Servant are 29,469 in 2019 to 6,12,179 cases in 2020.
“Under ‘Other IPC Crimes’ there were 2,52,268 cases in 2019 and 10,62,399 cases in 2020,” said the data.
In overall crime, the data showed an increase of 14,45,127 (28.0%) in registration of cases over 2019 (51,56,158 cases).
“Crime rate registered per lakh population has increased from 385.5 in 2019 to 487.8 in 2020,” it said.
During 2020, registration of cases under IPC has increased by 31.9% whereas SLL crimes have increased by 21.6% over 2019.
The major crimes against children were kidnapping and abduction. A total of 84,805 cases of kidnapping & abduction were registered during 2020, showing a decrease of 19.3% over 2019 (1,05,036 cases).
“A total of 29,768 cases have been registered against Juveniles during 2020, depicting a decrease of 7.8% over 2019 (32,269 cases). The crime rate also depicts a decrease from 7.2 in 2019 to 6.7 in 2020,” it said.
Crime against senior citizens also dipped. A total of 24,794 cases were registered for committing crime against Senior Citizens (aged above 60 years), showing a decrease of 10.8% in registration over 2019 (27,804 cases), said the NCRB.
On crime against ST and SC, a total of 50,291 cases were registered for committing crime against Scheduled Castes (SCs), showing an increase of 9.4% over 2019 (45,961 cases).
A total of 8,272 cases were registered for committing crime against Scheduled Tribes (STs), showing an increase of 9.3% over 2019 (7,570 cases).
Cyber crime also saw a significant jump, of 11.8 per cent, the data showed that “A total of 50,035 cases were registered under Cyber Crimes, showing an increase of 11.8% in registration over 2019 (44,735 cases). Crime rate under this category increased from 3.3 in 2019 to 3.7 in 2020.”
“During 2020, 60.2% of cyber-crime cases registered were for the motive of fraud (30,142 out of 50,035 cases) followed by sexual exploitation with 6.6% (3,293 cases) and Extortion with 4.9% (2,440 cases),” said the data.
In 19 metropolitan cities where population is less than 2 million, a total of 9,24,016 cognizable crimes comprising 6,68,061 Indian Penal Code (IPC) crimes and 2,55,955 Special & Local Laws (SLL) crimes were registered in 2020, showing an increase of 7.6% over 2019.
Amongst these 19 Metropolitan cities, “Cities reporting highest Charge-sheeting Rate under IPC Crimes are Surat (96.7%), Coimbatore (96.6%) and Ahmedabad (96.3%) said the data.
The states which are reporting the highest Charge-sheeting Rate under IPC Crimes are Gujarat (97.1%), Kerala (94.9%) and Tamil Nadu (91.7%). (Inputs from UNI)