India recorded 58.85 lakh crimes in 2024, a six per cent dip from 2023 when 62.41 lakh cases were reported, according to the latest figures released by the National Crime Records Bureau on Wednesday.
Crime rate, which is a measure of cases registered per lakh population, also dipped from 448.3 in 2023 to 418.9 in 2024, it revealed.
Kerala, Puducherry and West Bengal led in solving the crimes. Kerala filed chargesheet in 94.5 per cent of cases, followed by Puducherry at 91.0 per cent and West Bengal at 90.6 per cent, the report said.
According to the data, over 26.72 lakh persons were arrested in crimes registered under the Indian Penal Code and Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita, over 43.11 lakh were charge-sheeted, while over 10.71 lakh were convicted.
More than 18.65 lakh persons were arrested in crimes under special laws, 27.01 lakh were chargesheeted, and 17.21 lakh convicted.
Cases registered under the 'Hurt' category registered under Indian Penal Code sections 325, 326, and 329-335 saw a major decline, 30.58 per cent, from over 6.36 lakh cases in 2023 to over 4.41 lakh cases in 2024, the data showed.
The report, however, clarified that the dip in cases of 'Hurt or Grievous Hurt' may be attributed to the changes in Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita introduced in 2023, which replaced the Indian Penal Code, where these sections had been merged and simple 'Hurt' made a non-cognisable offence.
During the year, a total of 27,049 cases of murder were registered, showing a marginal decline of 2.4 per cent over the previous year. 'Disputes' was the leading motive behind these crimes, followed by 'personal vendetta or enmity' and 'gain', the report said.
The data showed that 96,079 cases of kidnapping and abduction were registered in 2024, a decrease of 15.4 per cent over 2023.
A total of 98,054 victims, over 70,000 of them female, were reported kidnapped or abducted in 2024. Of them all, 76,761 were children, while 21,293 were adults, it said.
'Crime against women' showed a dip of 1.5 per cent from the previous year, with 4.41 lakh cases lodged in 2024 as compared to 4.48 lakh the previous year.
'Cruelty by husband or relatives' was the leading cause of such crimes, followed by kidnapping, crime against minors, assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty, the data said.
"The crime rate registered per lakh women population was 64.6 in 2024 in comparison with 66.2 in 2023," the report said.
'Crimes against children' increased by 5.9 per cent in 2024, with 75,108 cases of kidnapping and abduction forming 40 per cent of the cases, while 69,191 cases of sexual crimes against children added another 36.9 per cent.
Senior citizens fell victim to 32,602 crimes in 2024, showing a spike of 16.9 from the previous year, with the highest, 4,786 cases, registered under 'theft'.
The report revealed that a total of 55,698 cases were registered crimes against Scheduled Castes (SCs), showing a decrease of 3.6 per cent over 2023, when their number was 57,789.
'Crimes against Scheduled Tribes' also showed a sharp decline of 23.1 per cent, with a total of 9,966 cases in 2024, as compared to 12,960 cases in 2023.
Over 1.01 lakh cybercrime cases were registered in 2024 - an increase of 17.9 per cent in registration over 2023.
Economic Offences also showed an increase of 4.6 per cent, with over 2.14 lakh cases registered in 2024.
During the year, a total of 8,21,100 fake Indian currency notes having a face value of Rs 54.61 crore were seized.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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