The ‘Crime in India 2021’, an annual report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), was released on August 29. The report is a compilation for crime-related statistics in 2021.
Key highlights
- NCRB reports have been a valuable compilation of statistics over the years on offences ranging from crimes against women to economic and financial crimes.
- Overall, 2021 saw a 7.6 per cent decline in the number of crimes registered, as compared to 2020. The crime rate per lakh population declined from 487.8 in 2020 to 445.9 in 2021.
- The NCRB was established in January 1986 with the aim of establishing a body to compile and keep records of data on crime. It functions under the Union Home Ministry.
- As per the latest report (2021), crimes against women rose 15 per cent in India in 2021 and Delhi is the most unsafe metropolitan city.
- Rajasthan reported the highest number of rape cases and Maharashtra topped the list when it comes to most suicides.
- The year 2021 also witnessed a spike in the rate of crimes against women (number of incidents per one lakh population) from 56.5 per cent in 2020 to 64.5 per cent.
- Amongst the majority of the crimes against women, 31.8 per cent were cases registered under ‘cruelty by husband or his relatives’, 20.8 per cent cases were ‘assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty’, kidnapping and abduction accounted for 17.6 per cent cases and 7.4 per cent were rapes.
- With 56,083 cases, Uttar Pradesh topped the list of crimes against women, followed by Rajasthan (40,738) and Maharashtra (39,526).
- According to the NCRB data, Nagaland reported the lowest number of crimes against women with 5.5 per cent rate in 2021. The northeastern state also had the lowest number of actual cases (54) last year.
- As many as 31,677 rape cases were registered in 2021 as compared to 28,046 cases in 2020 in the country.
- India reported 1,64,033 suicide cases in 2021, with Maharashtra (22,207) topping the list. The states that followed Maharashtra on the list are Tamil Nadu (18,925), Madhya Pradesh (14,965) and West Bengal (13,500).
- Uttar Pradesh saw the highest number of deaths (24,711) in traffic accidents. Around 4,22,659 traffic accidents were reported in the country which killed 1.73 lakh people.
- India reported 52,974 incidents of cyber crimes in 2021, an increase of nearly six percent from the year before. Telangana topped the chart among states, accounting for more than 19 percent. The state reported 10,303 cases in 2021, an increase of 105 percent from the year before. The next two states in the list, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka, however, saw the number decrease by 20 percent and 24 percent, respectively.
