Crime in India report 2022

• The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) released its annual report on crime in India for the year 2022.
• The report is a compilation of data on reported crime from across the country, and provides the big picture of broad trends in crime registration.
• Report include statistics on offences ranging from crimes against women to economic and financial crimes.

MAJOR FINDINGS

• Total of 58,24,946 cognizable crimes were registered showing decline of 4.5% in the registration of cases over the second pandemic year, 2021.
• The crime rate, or crimes registered per lakh population, has declined from 445.9 in 2021 to 422.2 in 2022.
  • This is seen as a better indicator, since absolute numbers on crime increase as the population increases.
• 4,45,256 cases of crime against women were registered in 2022. This was an increase of 4% over the 2021 numbers.
  • Majority of cases under crime against women were registered under ‘cruelty by Husband or relatives’ (31.4%).
• Cases of crimes against children showed an increase of 8.7% compared to 2021.
• Reporting of cyber crime increased significantly by 24.4 percentage points compared to 2021, to 65,893 cases.
• An increase of 4.2% was observed in suicides reported during 2022 (1,70,924 suicides) as compared to 2021.

ABOUT NCRB

• Set up in 1986 to function as a repository of information on crime and criminals to assist the investigators in linking the crime to the perpetrators based on the recommendations of the Tandon Committee, National Police Commission (1977-1981) and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) Taskforce (1985).
• It is under the purview of Ministry of Home Affairs and is headquartered in New Delhi.
• It also acts as a “national warehouse” for the fingerprint records of Indian and foreign criminals, and assists in locating interstate criminals through fingerprint search.
• The NCRB has four divisions–
  • Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS),
  • Crime Statistics,
  • Finger Prints, and