‘Crime in India’,

India saw a rise of 24 per cent in cybercrimes registered in 2022 compared to 2021, whereas other categories of crime – including economic offences (11%), crimes against senior citizens (9%), against women (4%) – too recorded an increase, as per the latest data released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) Sunday. According to the report ‘Crime in India’, 65,893 cases were registered under cybercrime, showing an increase of 24.4 per cent compared to 52,974 cases in 2021. “Crime rate (per lakh population) under this category has increased from 3.9 in 2021 to 4.8 in 2022. During 2022, 64.8 per cent of cybercrime cases registered were for the motive of fraud – 42,710 out of 65,893 cases – followed by extortion with 5.5 per cent – 3,648 cases – and sexual exploitation with 5.2 per cent – 3,434 cases,” it said. According to the NCRB data, a total of 1,93,385 cases were registered under economic offences, showing an increase of 11.1 per cent compared to 1,74,013 cases in 2021. “Out of three specified categories of economic offences; criminal breach of trust, FCF (forgery, cheating & fraud) and counterfeiting, FCF accounted for maximum of such cases, with 1,70,901 cases, followed by criminal breach of trust with 21,814 cases and counterfeiting with 670 cases in the last year,” the report said. As many as 57,582 cases were registered for crimes against SCs, a surge of 13.1 per cent compared to 50,900 cases in 2021. “A total of 10,064 cases were registered last year for crimes against STs, showing an increase of 14.3 per cent compared to 8,802 cases in 2021. Crime rate registered increased from 8.4 in 2021 to 9.6 in 2022,” the report stated. Cases of crime against senior citizens increased to 28,545 compared to 26,110 the previous year – an increase of 9.3 per cent in registration. In 2022, a total of 4,45,256 crimes against women were registered, showing an increase of 4 per cent compared to 4,28,278 cases in 2021. “Majority of cases under crime against women were registered under ‘cruelty by husband or his relatives’ at 31.4 per cent followed by kidnapping and abduction of women at 19.2 per cent, assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty at 18.7 per cent, and rape at 7.1 per cent. The crime rate registered per lakh women population was 66.4 in 2022 in comparison with 64.5 in 2021,” according to the data. The data showed that a total of 192 crimes were registered against foreigners (tourists and residents) compared to 150 cases in 2021, showing an increase of 28 per cent. “Most of the cases registered were theft (34) and rape (28). Out of 222 victims in 192 registered cases, 56.8 per cent of the victims were from the Asian continent (126) followed by 18 per cent of victims from African countries (40),” it added. Last year, 58,24,946 cognizable crimes – comprising 35,61,379 under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and 22,63,567 Special & Local Laws (SLL) crimes – were registered. “It shows a decline of 2,71,364 – 4.5 per cent – in registration of cases compared to 60,96,310 cases in 2021. Crime rate registered per lakh population has declined from 445.9 in 2021 to 422.2 in 2022. “During 2022, registration of cases under IPC and SLL Crimes have declined by 2.8 per cent and 7 per cent, respectively over 2021. Percentage share of IPC was 61.1 per cent while percentage share of SLL cases was 38.9 per cent of total cognizable crimes during 2022,” the report further said. In 2021, a total of 1,07,588 cases of kidnapping and abduction were registered, showing an increase of 5.8 per cent compared to 1,01,707 cases in 2021.