15.3% increase in crime against women in 2021: NCRB Report

NEW DELHI: The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) published its latest report for the year 2021 on August 29. In 2021, there was a 15.3 percent increase in crime against women compared to the previous year.

Delhi has been named as the most unsafe city for women, as 13,892 cases of crime against women were registered in the city in 2021, which is notably 40 percent higher from that of last year’s. The national capital is followed by Mumbai and Bengaluru. According to the NCRB, 1,357 incidents of girl child victims of sexual offences were recorded under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act in 2021. According to the data, the number of girl child rape cases reported in 2021 reached 833, the greatest number among major cities. While Delhi recorded the highest number of kidnapping cases amongst the metro cities (in 2020 at 5,475 as against 4,011 in 2020), the cases of murder registered a marginal decline in 2021.

The number of cybercrimes in the national capital increased by 111% in 2021 compared to the previous year, with the majority of cases being motivated by sexual exploitation, according to NCRB data. The majority of these incidents involved online fraud, online harassment, the publication of explicit content, etc., according to data assessed by NCRB for the year 2021. Despite the Delhi Police’s establishment of a social media centre and a dedicated division for cybercrime, there has been an upsurge. The majority of the offenders in the over 356 incidents of cybercrime that were reported last year were arrested for publishing and transmitting sexually explicit content. Most of the complainants were females or children between the ages of 12 and 17.

According to the 2022 report, West Bengal had the most cases of counterfeit bank and currency notes in the nation last year, with 82 incidents detected. With 75 cases reported, Assam came in second, followed by Tamil Nadu in third place with 62 cases. According to the survey, among other states, Maharashtra recorded 55 cases, Rajasthan reported 54 cases, and Uttar Pradesh reported 42 cases. India recorded a total of 639 instances of fake bank and currency notes in 2021.

According to NCRB figures, there was a 20 percent increase in crimes against children in 2021 over the previous year. In contrast to the 2,121 cases reported in 2020, 2,556 cases of crimes against minors were reported in the previous year under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and special Acts and local laws (SLL). As a result, the rate of crime against children—measured as the number of crimes committed per lakh population—has also skyrocketed, rising to 29.2 in 2021 from 24.3 the year before. 1, 40,839 crimes against children were committed in all 28 states.