Maharashtra ranked first in number of cases registered for outraging a woman’s modesty and in crimes against senior citizens in 2016.
According to the National Crime Records Bureau’s (NCRB) annual publication, Crime in India, which was released on Thursday, the state had the second highest number of cases under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSOA). The state also ranked second in economic offences and cyber crime.
The state registered 2,299 cases of murder, which was the third highest, and 4,189 cases of rape, also the third highest.
Maharashtra also stood third in the total number of cases (2,61,714) registered under the Indian Penal Code, amounting to 8.8% of the crimes in the country.
The overall crime rate saw an increase, with 4,30,866 cases last year, against 4,23,179 in the previous year.
The NCRB statistics show Maharashtra registered 11,394 cases of outraging a woman’s modesty, and 4,694 cases of crimes against senior citizens.
“Crimes against women is a sensitive subject. The number of cases is also an indicator that victims are coming forward, thanks to the sustained efforts by the police and the social media,” said an officer with the Maharashtra police.
Among metropolitan cities, Mumbai ranked first in crimes against senior citizens, with 1,218 cases. The city also ranked first in cyber crime, registering 980 cases, and 4,191 cases of economic offences, which was the second highest.
Mumbai also saw the second highest number of crimes against women with 5,128 cases, of which 712 cases were of rape and 2,138 were for outraging a woman’s modesty.
Mumbai ranked third in IPC crimes, accounting for 7.7% of the total cases.
The city police also registered 979 cases under the POCSOA, the second highest in metropolitan cities, the NCRB report said.
While Director General of Police Satish Mathur could not be reached for comment, Mumbai Police Commissioner D.D. Padsalgikar said he would have to go through the report before commenting on findings.
