Crimes against women have risen by 4% in 2022, as per the data published by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) on Monday, December 4. The total crime rate against women stands at 65.4% and 75.9% are chargesheeted. The crimes counted are rape, attempt to rape, dowry deaths, acid attacks, attempted acid attacks, cruelty by husband and/or his family, kidnapping and abduction of women, trafficking, assault on women with the intent to outrage her modesty, cyber crimes against women, and crimes registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, among others.
The total number of crimes against women in 2022 was 4,26,433, as opposed to 4,09,273 in 2021. Uttar Pradesh recorded the highest number of crimes against women with 65,743 cases followed by Maharashtra with 45,331 and Rajasthan with 45,058 cases. Meanwhile, Nagaland recorded the lowest number of crimes against women with 49 cases, followed by Mizoram (147) and Sikkim (179).
The total number of crimes against women in the five southern states stands at 89,802. Andhra Pradesh recorded the most number of crimes against women with 25,503 cases followed by Telangana (22,066), Karnataka (17,813), Kerala (15,213), and Tamil Nadu (9,207). There has been a considerable increase in crimes against women in all five southern states in comparison to 2020 and 2021.
The incidents of dowry deaths stood at an alarming 6,450 and the report indicated that 6,516 women were victims of this crime in 2022. NCRB also noted that 31,516 incidents of rape were reported in 2022 and the highest was reported by Rajasthan (5,339), followed by Uttar Pradesh (3,690) and Madhya Pradesh (3,029). The incidents of rape of girls under the age of 18 was at a staggering 1,004 with Uttar Pradesh accounting for almost half the cases (458).
Cyber crimes against women saw a considerable rise in 2022 compared to 2021. There has been an 11% rise in the number of cyber crimes against women in 2022. Incidents where sexually explicit material of women were published or transmitted stood at 2,251 compared to 1,896 in 2021. At the same time, other cyber crimes targeting women, such as blackmail, defamation, morphing, creating fake profiles, etc., stood at 689 in 2022 and 701 in 2021.
The total number of cases registered under POCSO (only female victims) also saw a drastic rise compared to 2021. There has been a 14% rise in the total number of cases registered under POCSO. Uttar Pradesh had the highest number of cases under POCSO with 7,995, followed by Maharashtra (7,467) and Madhya Pradesh (5,935).
In 2022, 37,511 incidents of rape of a minor girl were reported, as opposed to 33,036 in 2021. The total number of sexual assault cases against children in 2022 was 20,049, while it was 16,401 in 2021. Sexual harassment cases against children have also risen in the past year. The number of cases in 2021 was 2,032 as opposed to 2,661 in 2022.
It is to be noted that the NCRB report underlines that the data records the incidence of registered crime, not the actual occurrence of crime.