The latest National Crime Records Bureau annual report reveals concerning trends in various categories of crimes in 2022.
According to the report titled “Crime in India 2022,” crimes against women, children, senior citizens, Scheduled Castes (SC), and Scheduled Tribes (ST) witnessed increases of 4%, 8.7%, 9.3%, 13.1%, and 14.3%, respectively.
Released on Friday and made public on Sunday, the NCRB report is based on data collected from 36 states and Union territories, along with central agencies.
The report discloses that crimes against women increased by 4%, with 4,45,256 cases registered in 2022 compared to 4,28,278 in 2021.
Majority of these cases were related to cruelty by spouses or their relatives (31.4%), followed by kidnapping and abduction (19.2%), assault "with Intent to outrage modesty" (18.7%), and rape (7.1%). Rajasthan reported the highest number of rape cases (5,399), followed by Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Haryana. Delhi recorded 1,212 rape cases in 2022.
Crimes against children rose by 8.7%, totaling 1,62,449 cases in 2022. A significant portion of these cases (45.7%) were related to kidnapping and abduction, while 39.7% were filed under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.
Incidents of crime against senior citizens increased by 9.3%, reaching 28,545 cases in 2022. The majority of these cases (27.3%) were related to hurt, followed by theft (13.8%) and forgery, cheating, and fraud (11.2%).
Crimes against SC rose by 13.1%, totaling 57,582 cases, while crimes against ST increased by 14.3%, reaching 10,064 cases.
