Love, illicit affairs behind 17% of murders

While love affairs were behind 175 murders that were committed in Tamil Nadu in 2015, illicit relationships led to as many as 123 killings, data from the National Crime Records Bureau shows. According to the Bureau’s Crime in India 2015 report, at 17 per cent, murders under these two categories in Tamil Nadu were the highest among States.

However, the figure represents a drop from 2014, when 19.44 per cent of all murders occurred due to these reasons.

There were a total of 1,748 murders in the State during 2015, again a decline from 1,805 in 2015.

The State also fared better on other metrics: its violent crimes rate was 17.5 per cent, compared to the all-India average of 26.7 per cent.

It had been 18.5 per cent in 2014, when the all-India average was 26.6 per cent.

In 2015, Tamil Nadu recorded the second-highest tally of senior-citizen murders across the country, at 168.

The State was among the toppers in 2014 too, with 173 murders, one less than the number that Uttar Pradesh had reported.

The State reported 10 caste-related murders in 2015, which made it one of the eight states to report at least one murder under the category.

There had been 18 such murders in 2014. The State police recorded only one honour killing in 2015; there were no cases reported under the relevant sections the previous year.