Data from the NCRB indicates that the cases registered in regard to Crime Against Women increased significantly. Between 2017 & 2022, the number of registered Cyber Crimes increased from 600 to 2,940 (390%) and those under POCSO increased from 31,688 to 62,095 (96%). About 20 States registered an increase in Crimes of Kidnapping and Sexual Offences.
In the first part of this series on ‘Crime Against Women’, we observed a significant increase of over 30% in Crime Against Women (CAW) in India from 2014 to 2022. In this follow-up story, we delve into the trends across various types of crimes against women during this period.
Methodology and Notes
- The data for this analysis is sourced from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). The limitations and relevant notes mentioned in the previous story are applicable to this story as well.
- The categorization of CAW has not been consistent over the years. For instance, between 2014 and 2016, the NCRB recorded crimes such as custodial rape, forced miscarriage, and termination of pregnancy without consent as separate categories. However, these categories were not distinctly recorded from 2017 to 2022. Due to these and other relevant factors, the analysis in this story is focused on the period from 2017 to 2022.
Five types of Crimes increased by over 25%; Cyber Crimes increased by 390%
As highlighted in the previous story, the NCRB compiles data on Crimes Against Women by categorizing them under various legislations, including the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Special and Local Laws (SLL) such as the Cyber Crimes/Information Technology Act (Cyber Crimes), Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, Dowry Prohibition Act (DPA), Indecent Representation of Women Act (IRWA), Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act (PWDVA), and Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act (ITPA).
A comparison of this data from 2017 to 2022 reveals mixed trends. Among the IPC crimes, six categories have seen an increase, while nine have declined. Crimes such as Cruelty by Husband or Relatives, Kidnapping and Abduction (K&A), Insult to the Modesty of Women, Murder with Rape/Gang Rape, and Attempt to Acid Attack from 1,04,551 to 1,40,091 (33%), 66,333 to 85,310 (29%), 7,451 to 8,972 (20%), 662 to 881 (18%), 223 to 248 (11%), 35 to 38 (9%), respectively. Even in terms of the crime rate (crimes per lakh women population), some of these crimes show increasing trends from 2017 to 2022. While the crimes of Cruelty by Husband or Relatives, K&A, and Insult to the Modesty of Women, have increased from 16.8 to 20.9, 10.7 to 12.7, and 1.2 to 1.3 crimes per lakh women population, respectively, Murder with Rape/Gang Rape, and Attempt to Acid Attack have remained steady at about 0.1 crimes per lakh women population.
The IPC crimes that have reduced during this period include Selling of Minor Girls, Buying of Minor Girls, Attempt to Commit Rape, Acid Attacks, Dowry Deaths, Miscarriage, Abetment to Suicide, Rape (Excluding Child Rapes registered under POCSO), and Assault on Women with an intent to outrage her Modesty. In terms of crime rate, Attempt to Commit Rape, Dowry Deaths, Miscarriage, Abetment to Suicide, and Rape have decreased from 0.7 to 0.5, 1.2, 0.9 to 0.7, 5.2 to 4.7, and 13.8 to 12.4 respectively between 2017 & 2022. The other crimes have remained steady at about 0.1 women per lakh women population.
The 4 types of SLL crimes that have increased were Cyber Crimes, Crimes under POCSO Act, DPA, and IRWA from 600 to 2,940 (390%), 31,688 to 62,095 (96%), 10,189 to 13,479 (32%), and 25 to 28 (12%), respectively. The 2 types of SLL crimes reduced were crimes under PWDVA and ITA from 616 to 468 and 1,536 to 946, respectively. In terms of crime rate, Cyber Crimes, Crimes under the POCSO Act, and DPA have increased from 0.1 to 0.4, 5.1 to 9.3, and 1.6 to 2, respectively, while the crimes under IRWA have remained constant. Similarly, while the ITA crimes have decreased partially from 0.2 to 0.1 crimes per lakh women population, the PWDVA has remained constant at 0.1 per lakh women population.
Most Types of Crimes under POSCO Act and Cyber Crimes register increase
The NCRB categorizes CAW data of some crimes into sub-categories. For example, the K&A crimes are categorized by their purposes such as for murder, ransom, etc., and POCSO crimes are categorized by child rapes, sexual assault, and harassment, etc. There are about 20 such categories of crimes under 4 crime heads, namely K&A, POSCO Act, Cyber Crimes and ITA, for which the NCRB records CAW data.
An analysis of this data from 2017 to 2022 reveals that while the number of crimes in 9 of these heads has increased, 11 have decreased. Notably, in 5 out of the 9 heads, the number increased by over 100%, with the highest being Transmitting/Publishing sexually explicit material under Cybers Crimes at a 730% increase, followed by Child Rape under POCSO Act at a 115% increase. In terms of crime rate, 3 out of the 5 crimes, namely Transmitting/Publishing sexually explicit material, Child Rape, and Sexual Harassment have increased from 0.1 to 0.3, 2.8 to 5.6, and 0.2 to 0.4, respectively, from 2017 to 2022, while other Cyber Crimes, and Use of Child for Pornography/Storing Child Pornography material have remained steady at about 0.1 crimes per lakh women population.
Among the 11 crimes whose numbers have decreased, four have declined by over 50%. The most significant decreases were in Unnatural Offenses under the POCSO Act, which dropped by 81%, and the importation of women from foreign countries, which fell by 80%. In terms of crime rate, only two crimes — Detaining a Person in Premises Where Prostitution is Carried On under ITPA, and Procuration of Minor Girls under K&A — showed a decrease, from 4.9 to 4.3 and 1.2 to 1.1, respectively. The remaining crimes stayed constant at about 0.1 crimes per lakh women population.
A notable trend within these crime categories is that the number of crimes under both sub-categories of Cyber Crimes has shown a substantial increase, while the number in 5 out of the 6 types of crimes under the POCSO Act has also increased, with the only exception being Unnatural Offenses, which decreased from 2017 to 2022.
20 States Register an increase in Crimes of Kidnapping and Sexual Offences
For the purpose of state-wise analysis, excluding Union Territories (UTs), we considered 6 crimes heads, namely Crimes of Dowry Deaths, K&A, and Cruelty by Husband/Relatives registered under IPC, Crimes under DPA, PWDVA, and Sexual and allied crimes. For Sexual and allied crimes, we have combined crimes under different crime categories, such as Assault on Women with an intent to outrage her modesty, Attempt to Commit Rape, Insults to Modesty of Women, Rape, Child Rape, Sexual Assault, Sexual Harassment, Murder with Rape/Gang Rape, Publishing/Transmitting Sexually Explicit Material, Use of Child for Pornography or Storing Child Pornography material, registered under IPC, POSCO Act and Cyber Crimes. It does not include crimes registered under the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act.
The analysis of this data between 2017 & 2022 shows that the number of crimes related to Dowry deaths increased in 5 states, those under the Dowry Prohibition Act increased in 11 states, and those under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act increased in 3 states.
As far as cases related to Cruelty by Husband/Relatives are concerned, their number increased in 19 states while those under Sexual and related crimes increased in 20 states. Kidnapping & Abduction-related cases increased in 21 states.
As of 2022, the top five states for K&A crimes were Uttar Pradesh (UP), Bihar, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh (MP), and West Bengal (WB). Among these, only Uttar Pradesh showed a marginal decrease in these crimes, from 14,993 in 2017 to 14,887 in 2022, while the other states showed an increase. In Sexual and related crimes, the top five states were Maharashtra, UP, Rajasthan, MP, and Odisha, with only MP showing a reduction in these crimes, while the rest increased. In Cruelty by Husband/Relatives, the top five states were WB, UP, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh (AP), and Maharashtra, with none of these states showing a decrease in the number of crimes.
Increase in the number of Sexual Offences and K&A crimes is a matter of concern
The increasing numbers of Sexual and K&A crimes, as reported by NCRB, are concerning since the NCRB data may not fully represent the actual incidence of these crimes due to limitations in data collection and compilation, reporting & registration of crimes, among others.
While better reporting leading to an increase in the number of crimes cannot be ruled out, the data clearly indicates that crimes such as Kidnapping & Abduction, and Sexual Offences are on the rise similar to the trend of Crimes Against Children (CACs) (read here and here). As highlighted in these stories, the fact that CACs are increasing is noted by multiple agencies, including the judiciary. Similarly, the rising trend of violence against women has become increasingly visible over the past few years, with multiple agencies highlighting this issue. The Supreme Court (SC) in its order in the suo moto case relating to the Kolkata rape & murder incident highlighted the issue of sexual violence and concerns relating to women’s safety in the medical field. In response, the SC has established a National Task Force (NTF) to examine these issues and make recommendations aimed at preventing gender-based violence and improving safety for those in the medical profession.
