NCRB Releases Statistics on Crimes against Women; Delhi Adjudged Most Unsafe City

NCRB Releases Statistics on Crimes against Women; Delhi Adjudged Most Unsafe City

By: Navyasri, Writer, Womenentrepreneurindia

The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has released its figures for 2020, and Kolkata has been named the safest metropolis in the country. According to reports, Hyderabad, Mumbai, and Bengaluru are the next most populous cities in India. According to a survey, Kolkata has the lowest rate of cognizable offences with a score of 129.5, while Hyderabad has 233, Mumbai 318.6, and Bengaluru 401.9, with a national average of 810.3.

While crimes against women in Delhi fell by 24.65 percent in 2020 compared to 2019, possibly due to the Covid-19 pandemic that kept people mostly indoors last year, the national capital still led all Union Territories (UTs) in the number of rapes reported, according to the latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report.

Key Findings

Rape Cases: 28,046; Crimes Against Women: 3,71,503. In 2020, over 77 rape crimes were recorded on average every day in India, for a total of 28,046 such assaults. According to the NCRB, there were 3,71,503 incidences of crime against women registered across the country last year, down from 4,05,326 in 2019 and 3,78,236 in 2018. According to NCRB data for the year, which saw the COVID-19 outbreak and pandemic-induced lockdowns, there were 28,046 occurrences of rape involving 28,153 victims out of the total cases of crimes against women in 2020.

Rape Cases in Previous Years: According to Indian Penal Code section 376, the number of rape cases was 32,033 in 2019, 33,356 in 2018, and 32,559 in 2017. According to NCRB data from previous years, the figure for 2016 was 38,947.

Rajasthan had the most rape cases (5,310) among states and union territories in 2020, followed by Uttar Pradesh (2,769), Madhya Pradesh (2,339), Maharashtra (2,061), and Assam (2,061). (1,657). According to the data, there were 997 similar occurrences in the national capital Delhi last year.

Maximum Incidents Under ‘Cruelty by Husband or Relatives': Of the overall crimes against women last year, the category “cruelty by husband or relatives” accounted for 1,11,549 occurrences "It also revealed that there were 62,300 cases of kidnapping and abduction. There were 85,392 cases of "attack to outrage modesty" and 3,741 cases of "attempt to commit rape."  In the year 2020, 105 occurrences of acid attack were reported across the country. Last year, India had 6,966 dowry fatalities with 7,045 victim.

The number of crimes against children in MP is at an all-time high. It reported that out of the total rape victims, 25,498 were adults and 2,655 were children under the age of 18. According to the NCRB research, Madhya Pradesh had the highest rate of crime against minors in the country during the time, with 17,008 incidents. MP also recorded the largest number of complaints of foeticide (17), as well as the highest number of tribal women rapes (339), followed by Chhattisgarh (195) and Maharashtra (129). The fact that the 2020 predictions were only 1 percent lower than the 2019 estimates is little consolation.

From 2019 to 2020, there was a 9.4 percent increase in crimes against SCs and a 9.3 percent increase in crimes against STs: A total of 50,291 incidences of crime against Scheduled Castes (SCs) were reported in 2019, up 9.4 percent over the previous year (45,961 cases). The recorded crime rate increased from 22.8 in 2019 to 25.0 in 2020. Simple harm accounted for 32.9 percent (16,543 cases) of all cases of crimes/atrocities committed against SCs in 2020. It was followed by cases under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, which accounted for 8.5 percent of all cases (4,273), and cases under Criminal Intimidation, which accounted for 7.5 percent of all instances (3,788 cases). A total of 8,272 incidences of crime against Scheduled Tribes (STs) were recorded, indicating a significant increase.

Cyber Crimes Have Increased by 11.8 Percent: A total of 50,035 cases have been reported under Cyber Crimes, representing an increase of 11.8 Percent over 2019. (44,735 cases). In this category, the crime rate climbed from 3.3 in 2019 to 3.7 in 2020. In 2020, fraud accounted for 60.2 percent of all cyber-crime cases (30,142 out of 50,035 reported), followed by sexual exploitation at 6.6 percent (3,293 incidents) and extortion at 4.9 percent (2,440 cases).

Legal Provisions for Women

To carry out the Constitution's mission, the state has passed a number of laws aimed at ensuring equal rights, combating social discrimination and other forms of violence and atrocities, and providing support services to women.

The Indian Penal Code Identifies the Crimes (IPC), Rape I (Sec. 376 IPC), Kidnapping and abduction for various reasons (Sec. 363-373), Dowry Homicide, Dowry Deaths, or Attempts (Section 302/304-B IPC), Psychological and physical torture (Sec. 498-A IPC), Harassment (Sec. 354 IPC), Harassment of a Sexual Nature (Sec. 509 IPC), Importation of young women (under the age of 21).