Uttar Pradesh accounted for 9.5% of total crimes reported in the country, while Delhi reported the highest crime rate (974.9) for the year 2016, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday released the annual publication of the NCRB, “Crime in India 2016”.
This year, the NCRB has published data on 19 metropolitan cities with a population of over 2 million and included a new section on Missing Persons & Children, Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) and arms seizure.
A total of 48,31,515 cognizable crimes, comprising 29,75,711 Indian Penal Code (IPC) crimes and 18,55,804 Special & Local Laws (SLL) crimes were reported in 2016, showing an increase of 2.6% over 2015 (47,10,676 cases). IPC Crimes have increased by 0.9% (from 29,49,400 in 2015 to 29,75,711 in 2016). SLL Crimes by 5.4% (from 17,61,276 in 2015 to 18,55,804 in 2016).
Decline in murder cases
Murder cases (30,450) in the country, however, declined by 5.2%, compared to 2015. Rioting (5%) and robbery (11.8%) too showed decline, while abduction cases increased by 6%.
Cases under 'Crime Against Women' have reported an increase of 2.9% in 2016 over 2015. The majority of such crimes were reported under ‘Cruelty by Husband or His Relatives’ (32.6%), followed by ‘Assault on Women with Intent to Outrage her Modesty’ (25.0%), ‘Kidnaping & Abduction of Women’ (19.0%) and ‘Rape’ (11.5%).
Rape cases have reported an increase of 12.4% from 34,651 cases in 2015 to 38,947 in 2016. Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh reported the highest incidence, with 4,882 cases (12.5%) and 4,816 (12.4%), followed by Maharashtra 4,189 (10.7%) in 2016.
Atrocities against SC/ST people have increased by 5.5% in 2016. Of the 40,801 cases registered, 10,426 were reported from Uttar Pradesh, accounting for 25.6%, followed by Bihar, with 14% (5,701) and Rajasthan 12.6% (5,134).
The incidence of 'cyber crime' has shown an increasing trend by 6.3%.
A total of 8,132 cases of human trafficking were reported in the country, with West Bengal reporting the highest number (3,579). A total of 1,11,569 children were reported missing last year and 55,944 traced.
As many as 53,929 cases were registered under the Arms Act, 1959 in which 56,516 arms (37,116 firearms) were seized.
A total of 2,81,839 notes worth Rs. 15,92,50,181 were seized under the FICN in 2016.
Delhi city accounted for 38.8% of total the IPC crimes, followed by Bengaluru (8.9%) and Mumbai (7.7%).
Chennai has reported the highest number of cases of SLL crimes, accounting for 32.9% of a total such crimes reported amongst 19 metropolitan cities. It is followed by Kochi (12.9%) and Surat (12.6%).
There were 35 cases of sedition in 2016, with Haryana accounting for 12, followed by Uttar Pradesh (6).
Sixty cases of custodial deaths were reported in 2016 and 12 were from Maharashtra.
