Crime against women: What the NCRB data says

Insight Bureau: Assam has retained the top spot in recording the most violent crimes in the country, followed by Delhi, except in 2020. This is according to 2021 data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).

The statistics also showed that after a decline in the previous year, Assam has continued the trend of increasing such crimes.

“But the crime rate of 76.6 cases per 1 lakh population – slightly higher than the 73.7 cases in 2020 – does not paint the full picture,” Assam police officials said. They attributed the number to the high reporting and registration of cases, particularly in crimes against women.

Analysis of NCRB data since 2017 showed that Assam topped all states and union territories nationwide with 78.6 violent crime cases per lakh inhabitant, followed by Delhi (60.6) and West Bengal (51.4). The number of cases of violence in Assam and Delhi rose to 86.4 and 63.6 in 2018, while Tripura ousted West Bengal to take third place with 62 cases.

These three states maintained their positions in 2019 but saw a decrease in violent incidents – 83.4 in Assam, 58.2 in Delhi and 53.6 in Tripura.

In 2021, West Bengal ranked second with 51.2 cases, behind Assam’s 73.7, while Delhi ranked third with 49.2 cases. Delhi and West Bengal swapped places in 2021 with 57 and 48.7 cases per lakh population respectively.

Violence against women

According to NCRB data for 2021, Assam had 168.3 crimes against women per 1 lakh population, the highest in India. Delhi was second with 147.6 and Odisha third with 137.8.

The data conveyed nothing new. Assam has consistently ranked first in crimes against women. The rate was 143.2 in 2017, 166 in 2018, 155 in 2019 and 154.3 in 2020.

The total number of crimes against women cases recorded in Assam in 2021 was 29,046, a 10.22% increase from 2020 when the state recorded 26,352 cases. The number in 2019 was 30,025, a jump from 27,687 in 2018.

In 2021, Assam recorded 46 cases of murder with rape or gang rape, two behind leader Uttar Pradesh. This was almost double the 26 cases in 2020.

The state recorded 1,835 counts of rape in 2021, compared to 1,658 counts in 2020. In 2021 there were 563 counts of attempted rape and 4,511 counts of assault with intent to cause decent outrage. Assam recorded nine cases of acid attacks on women in 2021 and two in 2020.

The state also recorded 432 cases of cybercrime targeting women, including the posting or transmission of sexually explicit material. It is the second highest in the country after Odisha, which recorded 565 cases.

Of the total crimes against women in the state, 12,950 were cases of cruelty by the husband or his relatives. The state recorded 5,866 cases of kidnapping and kidnapping of women, 3,362 of them for forced marriage.

The state recorded 1,948 cases under the Child Protection from Sexual Offenses Act, of which 1,317 were child rape cases, 424 were sexual assault cases and 158 were sexual molestation cases. The total number of cases under this law in 2020 was 1,496. On a positive note, Assam did not record any cases of infant or fetal murder.