Registered violent crimes such as rape, kidnapping, crimes against children and robberies increased again across India in 2021, after pandemic-related restrictions led to a decline in these severe offences in 2020. Murders, which did not come down even in 2020, continued to increase last year too.
The number of registered rape cases increased from 28,046 in 2020 to 31,677 in 2021, closer to the 2019 figure of 32,032 cases. Cases related to kidnapping and abduction increased from 84,805 in 2020 to 1,01,707, closer to the 1,05,036 cases recorded in 2019. On the other hand, murder cases continued their consistent increase with 29,272 cases in 2021, up from 29,193 in 2020 and 28,915 in 2019.
However, the number of overall registered cognisable crimes decreased from 66 lakh in 2020 to 60.9 lakh in 2021, a 7.6% decrease. The crime rate (crimes per 1 lakh people) also decreased from 487.8 in 2020 to 445.9 in 2021.
COVID-19 violations dip
The decline in overall crimes in 2021 can be attributed to a sharp decrease in cases registered under “disobedience to order duly promulgated by a public servant (Section 188 of IPC)." Such cases were registered mainly over violations of COVID-19 norms. They were also recorded under ‘Other IPC Crimes’ and ‘Other State Local Acts.’
The number of cases filed under Section 188 of the IPC almost halved from 6.12 lakh cases in 2020 to 3.22 lakh in 2021. Cases filed under ‘Other IPC Crimes’ more than halved from 10.6 lakh in 2020 to 4.9 lakh in 2021.
However, overall cognisable crimes in 2021 continued to be higher than 2019 levels (51.6 lakh cases), with COVID-related violations contributing to the bulk of the increase, despite the decline compared to 2020.
Crime rate in States
In 2021, the rate of violent crimes (per 1 lakh people) among major States was the highest in Assam — 76.6 violent crimes per 1 lakh people followed by Delhi at 57 and West Bengal at 48.7. Violent crimes include murder, dowry death, grievous hurt, kidnapping, rape and others. The rate was lowest in Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
Notably, the biggest increase in the rate of violent crimes was recorded in Odisha. The State's violent crime rate increased from 38 in 2020 to 48.6 in 2021. Delhi also recorded a significant uptick in violent crimes with the rate increasing from 49.2 in 2020 to 57 in 2021.
