Dip in murders; cybercrimes, crimes against Scheduled Tribes spiked: NCRB data

New Delhi: India recorded 27,721 cases of murder in 2023, less by 2.8 per cent from 2022, while crimes against Scheduled Tribes rose by a staggering 28 per cent during the same period, latest data from the National Crime Records Bureau has revealed.

Cybercrimes saw a 31.2 per cent increase with 86,420 cases, as compared to 65,893 reported in 2022, it said. The national record keeper of crimes and trends revealed that 28,522 cases of murder were reported in India in 2022, which came down to 27,721 cases in 2023, a dip of 2.8 per cent.

"'Disputes' (9,209 cases) was the motive in the highest number of murder cases during 2023, followed by 'Personal Vendetta or Enmity' (3,458 cases) and 'Gain' (1,890 cases)," the report said.

Crimes against Scheduled Tribes saw a jump of 28.8 per cent from 10,064 cases in 2022 to 12,960 cases in 2023, it said.

The overall crime rate in the category also saw a surge from 9.6 in 2022 to 12.4 in 2023.

According to the NCRB, the crime rate is crimes per lakh population at the 2011 Census figures.

"Crime Rates for Metropolitan cities have been calculated using Actual Population Census 2011. Section related to simple hurt which constitute 21.3 per cent of the total cases followed by 1707 cases of riots, 13.2 per cent of the total FIRs, and 1189 cases of rapes which constitute 9.2 per cent of the total count," the report said.

The rate of cybercrime went up from 4.8 per cent to 6.2 per cent over the year, it said.

In 2023, 68.9 per cent of cybercrimes were aimed at defrauding citizens, forming nearly 59,526 of the total 86,420 cases, followed by sexual exploitation, which was at 4.9 per cent, with 4,199 cases, and extortion, 3.8 per cent, with 3,326 cases, it said.

Across the country, 62,41,569 cognizable crimes were reported in 2023 — 37,63,102 under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) crimes and 24,78,467 under Special and Local Laws (SLL).

"It shows an increase of 4,16,623 (7.2%) in registration of cases over 2022 (58,24,946 Cases). Crime rate registered per lakh population has increased from 422.2 in 2022 to 448.3 in 2023," the report said.

Crimes against women showed a nominal increase of 0.4 per cent from 4.45 lakh cases in 2022 to 4,48,211 cases in 2023.

"Majority of cases under crime against women under IPC were registered under 'Cruelty by Husband or Relatives' (1,33,676 cases, 29.8%) and 'Kidnapping and Abduction of Women' (88,605 cases, 19.8%), followed by 'Assault on Women with intent to outrage her modesty' (83,891 cases, 18.71%) and 'Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO)' (66,232 cases, 14.8%)," it said.

In 19 metropolitan cities, a total of 9,44,291 cognizable crimes were reported in 2023 — an increase of 10.6 per cent over 2022, when 8,53,470 cases were registered.

Of the total in metros, 6,67,351 cases were registered under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) crimes and 2,76,940 under the Special & Local Laws (SLL) crimes, it said.

The crimes reported from metropolitan cities under 'theft' constituted the majority of cases at 44.8 per cent, followed by 'rash driving on public way', 9.2 per cent, with 61,570 cases, and 'obstruction on public way', 8.1 per cent, with 53,742 cases, in 2023.