India Witnesses Sharp Rise In Crimes Against Women, Up By 15.3% In 2021: NCRB

India witnessed a significant rise in crimes against women and children in 2021, according to the data reported by the National Crime Records Bureau. As per the latest data, a total of 4,28,278 cases of crime against women were registered during 2021, showing an increase of 15.3 per cent over 2020 (3,71,503 cases).

Majority of cases under crime against women under IPC were registered under ‘Cruelty by Husband or His Relatives’ (31.8 per cent) followed by ‘Assault on Women with Intent to Outrage her Modesty’ (20.8 per cent), ‘Kidnapping & Abduction of Women’ (17.6 per cent) and ‘Rape’ (7.4 per cent). The crime rate registered per lakh women population is 64.5 in 2021 in comparison with 56.5 in 2020.

Sharp rise in crimes against women

A significant surge of more than 40% with 13,892 new cases was registered in 2021. However, in 2020, the figure was 9,782. Notably, the total number of crimes in all 19 metropolitan cities was 43,414. Delhi saw 14,277 cases of crimes against women, whereas Mumbai stands second with 5,543 instances and Bengaluru reported 3,127 cases. Mumbai and Bengaluru accounted for 12.76% and 7.2% of total crimes in 19 cities, respectively.

Though 71% of these cases have been chargesheeted, more than 16,000 cases are still pending from previous years. Further as many as 1,374 POCSO cases and 1,125 rape cases have been registered in 2021 — a 41% increase from the previous year, writes The Indian Express.

The conviction rate in rape cases across India remained abysmally low at 24.8% in 2021 with only 156 cases convicted and around 22,313 cases currently under trial, according to the report. Total 31,677 rape cases were registered in 2021 as compared to 28,046 cases in 2020. Rajasthan (6337) followed by Madhya Pradesh (2947) reported most FIRs under section 376 of IPC while Delhi (1250) recorded most number of cases among the Union Territories. The crime rate registered per lakh women population is 64.5 in 2021 compared with 56.5 in 2020, it added.

Similarly, a total of 1,49,404 cases of crime against children were registered during 2021, showing an increase of 16.2 per cent over 2020 (1,28,531 cases). In percentage terms, major crime heads under ‘Crime Against Children’ during 2020 were kidnapping and abduction (45 per cent) and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (38.1 per cent) including child rape. The crime rate registered per lakh children population is 33.6 in 2021 in comparison with 28.9 in 2020.

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