Context: The National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) recently released its annual report for 2023, which presents data collected from States/UTs Police and Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) / Central Police Organizations (CPOs).
- Methodology Adopted– Principal Offence Rule: It refers to the system of recording each criminal incident as one crime. If many offences are registered in a single FIR case, only the most heinous crime i.e. the one that attracts maximum punishment will be considered as counting unit.
Key Findings:
- Total of 62,41,569 cognizable crimes comprising 37,63,102 Indian Penal Code (IPC) crimes and 24,78,467 Special & Local Laws (SLL) crimes were registered in 2023. It shows an increase of 4,16,623 (7.2%) in registration of cases over 2022 (58,24,946 Cases).
- Murder– A total of 27,721 casesof murder were registered during 2023, showing a marginal decline of 2.8% over 2022 (28,522 cases).
- Kidnapping & Abduction – A total of 1,13,564 cases was registered during 2023, showing an increase of 5.6% over 2022 (1,07,588 cases).
- Offences against Public Tranquillity- The cases of offences against public tranquillity have increased by 2.0% in 2023 over 2022 (57,082 cases).
- Crime against Women- A total of 4,48,211 cases of crime against women were registered during 2023, showing an increase of 0.7% over 2022 (4,45,256 cases).
- Majority of cases under crime against women under IPC were registered under ‘Cruelty by Husband or Relatives’ (1,33,676 cases, 29.8%).
- ‘Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO)’ (66,232 cases, 14.8%).
- Crime against Children – A total of 1,77,335 cases of crime against children were registered during 2023, showing an increase of 9.2% over 2022 (1,62,449 cases).
- ‘Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO)’ (67,694 cases, 38.2%).
- Juveniles in Conflict with Law- A total of 31,365 cases have been registered against Juveniles during 2023, increase of 2.7% over 2022 (30,555 cases).
- Crime against Senior Citizens- A total of 27,886 cases were registered for committing crime against Senior Citizens (aged above 60 years) in 2023, showing a decline of 2.3% in registration over 2022 (28,545 cases).
- Crime/Atrocities against Scheduled Castes (SCs)- A total of 57,789 cases were registered for committing crime against Scheduled Castes (SCs), showing an increase of 0.4% over 2022 (57,582 cases).
- Crime rate registered showed an increase from 28.6 in 2022 to 28.7 in 2023.
- Crime/Atrocities against Scheduled Tribes (STs)- A total of 12,960 cases were registered for committing crime against Scheduled Tribes (STs), showing an increase of 28.8% over 2022 (10,064 cases).
- Crime rate registered increased from 9.6 in 2022 to 12.4 in 2023.
- Cyber Crimes– A total of 86,420 cases were registered under Cyber Crimes, showing an increase of 31.2% in registration over 2022 (65,893 cases).
- During 2023, 68.9% of cyber-crime cases registered were for the motive of fraud (59,526 out of 86,420 cases) followed by Sexual Exploitation with 4.9% (4,199 cases).
- Economic Offences- A total of 2,04,973 cases were registered under economic offences, showing an increase of 6.0% in registration over 2022 (1,93,385 cases).
- Environment Related Offences– During the year 2023, a total of 68,994 cases were registered under Environment Related Offences as compared to 52,920 cases in the year 2022, showing an increase of 30.4%.
- Crime against Foreigners and Crime by Foreigners– A total of 238 crimes were registered for crime against foreigners (Tourist and Resident) as compared to 192 cases in 2022, showing an increase of 24.0%.
- Human Trafficking- A total of 2,183 cases of Human Trafficking were registered in 2023 as compared to 2,250 cases in the year 2022, showing a decline of 3.0%.
