Cases of crime against women have spiked with an increase of 4 per cent seen in States and Union territories while an increase of 12.3 percent was recorded in 19 Metro cities in 2022 over the preceeding year.

In the 19 Metropolitan cities with population above two million (Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi, Ghaziabad, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Kanpur, Kochi, Kolkata, Kozhikode, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, Patna, Pune and Surat) a total of 48,755 cases of crime against women were registered during 2022, showing an increase of 12.3 per cent over 2021 (43,414 cases).

The majority of cases under crime against women were registered under ‘Cruelty by Husband or his Relatives’ (32.6 per cent) followed by ‘Kidnaping and Abduction of Women’ (19.4per cent), ‘Assault on Women with Intent to Outrage her Modesty’ (17.9 per cent), and ‘Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012’ (13.2 per cent).

The national capital Delhi registered 14158 cases of crimes against women with a 72.4 percent chargesheet rate, 6176 cases of crimes against women were recorded in the financial capital Mumbai with a 80.6 per cent chargesheet rate, while Bengaluru recorded 3924 cases with a chargesheet rate of 74.2 per cent.

In States and UTs, according to NCRB data in the 70th edition of its annual report, a total of 4,45,256 cases of crime against women were registered during 2022, showing an increase of 4 per cent over 2021 (4,28,278 cases).

“The majority of cases under crime against women under IPC were registered under ‘Cruelty by Husband or His Relatives’ (31.4 per cent) followed by ‘Kidnapping and Abduction of Women’ (19.2 per cent), ‘Assault on Women with Intent to Outrage her Modesty’ (18.7 percent), and ‘Rape’ (7.1 per cent). The crime rate registered per lakh women population was 66.4 in 2022 in comparison with 64.5 in 2021,” NCRB report stated.

Uttar Pradesh registered the highest number of 65743 cases of crimes against women under IPC and Special and Local Laws (SLL) with a 75.6 per cent chargesheet rate. Maharashtra registered 45331 cases with Maharashtra 80.6 percent chargesheet rate, while Rajasthan recorded 45058 cases of crime against women with a low chargesheet rate of 54 percent.

The NCRB data also showed a total of 1,62,449 cases of crime against children were registered in States and UTS during 2022, showing an increase of 8.7 per cent over 2021 (1,49,404 cases).

“In percentage terms, major crime heads under ‘Crime Against Children’ during 2021 were Kidnapping & Abduction (45.7 per cent) and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (39.7 percent) including child rape. The crime rate registered per lakh children population was 36.6 in 2022 in comparison with 33.6 in 2021,” the report further said.

A total of 20,550 cases of crime against children were registered during 2022 in Metropolitan cities, showing an increase in registration by 7.8 per cent over 2021 (19,055 cases).

In percentage terms, crime heads reporting the majority of cases under ‘Crime Against Children’ were kidnapping and abduction (56.3 per cent) followed by the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (32.2 per cent).

A total of 30,555 cases have been registered in States against Juveniles during 2022, depicting a decline of 2.0 percent over 2021 (31,170 cases).

“The crime rate depicts a decline from 7.0 in 2021 to 6.9 in 2022. A total of 37,780 juveniles were apprehended in 30,555 cases, out of which 33,261 juveniles were apprehended under cases of IPC and 4,519 juveniles were apprehended under cases of SLL during 2022. The majority of juveniles in conflict with law apprehended under IPC and SLL crimes were in the age group of 16 years to 18 years (78.6 per cent) (29,690 out of 37,780) during 2022,” the report further said.

A total of 5,352 cases have been registered against Juveniles during 2022 in Metropolitan cities, showing a decrease of 8.2 percent over 2021 (5,828 cases).

“A total of 7,061 juveniles were apprehended in 5,352 cases, out of which 6,498 juveniles were apprehended under IPC cases and 563 juveniles were apprehended under SLL cases during 2022. A majority (79.3 per cent) of juveniles in conflict with law apprehended under IPC and SLL crimes were in the age group of 16 to 18 years (5,596 out of 7,061) during 2022,” the report stated.