The National Crime Records Bureau’s (NCRB) annual report  — ‘Crime in India 2020’ — released yesterday, September 14, shows that crimes against women have significantly reduced in Uttar Pradesh but increased in West Bengal.

According to the NCRB data, West Bengal and Odisha recorded the highest increase in total number of crimes against women in 2020 as compared to 2019. For instance in West Bengal, the total number of crimes reported against women have increased from 29,859 in 2019 to 36,439 in 2020; a jump of 22 per cent. Similarly, in Odisha, the total number of such crimes reported increased from 23,183 to 25,489 in the same time period, which is an increase of 10 per cent.

Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh and the national capital of Delhi recorded a decline in the number of crimes against women last year. In Delhi, the reported cases of crime against women have declined from 13,395 cases in 2019 to 10,093 cases in 2020; a drop of 25 per cent. Uttar Pradesh saw the sharpest decline from 59,853 in 2019 to 49,385 in 2020, which is a drop of 25 per cent in Delhi and 18 per cent in UP.

However, the rate of crime against women, which is calculated as crimes reported per 100,000 population, shows that Assam tops the list. With a total population of 17.07 million, the northeastern state reported 26,352 crimes against women in 2020 — a crime rate of 154.3 per cent. Crime rates against women in other states stands at Odisha (112.9 per cent), Delhi (106.4 per cent), West Bengal (76.2 per cent) and Uttar Pradesh (45.1 per cent).

Of all the 28 states and eight Union Territories (UTs), at least 10 states and UTs saw an increase in the cases of crimes against women last year in 2020. These are: Meghalaya, Mizoram, Odisha, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Jammu and Kashmir (including Ladakh), and Puducherry.

Majority of the states and UTs have registered a drop in crimes against women. These are: Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Nagaland, Punjab, Rajasthan, Telangana, Tipura, Uttar Pradesh, Chandigarh, Daman & Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Delhi, and Lakshadweep.

The NCRB data shows that overall there is a decline of 8.3 per cent in cases of crimes against women in the country. A total of 371,503 cases of crime against women were registered during 2020 as compared to 405,326 cases recorded in 2019.

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The crime rate registered per lakh women population is 56.5 in 2020 in comparison with 62.3 in 2019.

Majority of cases under crime against women under Indian Penal Code were registered under ‘Cruelty by Husband or His Relatives’ (30.0 per cent) followed by ‘Assault on Women with Intent to Outrage her Modesty’ (23.0 per cent), ‘Kidnapping & Abduction of Women’ (16.8 per cent) and ‘Rape’ (7.5 per cent).

A total of 50,291 cases were registered for crimes against Scheduled Castes (SCs). This is an increase of 9.4 per cent over 2019 when 45,961 cases were recorded. A significant increase was witnessed in states such as Bihar, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh.

A total of 8,272 cases were registered for committing crime against Scheduled Tribes (STs), which has increased by 9.3 per cent as compared to 7,570 cases in 2019. Madhya Pradesh witnessed the highest rise from 1,922 cases in 2019 to 2,401 cases in 2020.

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