| Highlights |
Description |
| Overall Crime Statistics |
A total of over 58,00,000 cognizable crimes were registered, comprising both the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Special & Local Laws(SLL) crimes. The registration of cases witnessed around 4.5% decline compared to 2021. |
| Crime Rate Decline |
The crime rate per lakh population dropped from about 446 in 2021 to 422 in 2022. |
| Safest City |
Kolkata emerged as the safest city in India for the third consecutive year, recording the least number of cognisable offences per lakh population among metropolises. Pune (Maharashtra) and Hyderabad (Telangana) secured the second and third positions, respectively. |
| Rise in Cyber Crimes |
Cybercrime reporting surged by about 24%, totalling 65,893 cases, a significant surge from 52,974 cases in 2021. Cyber fraud constituted the majority of cases (64%), followed by extortion, and sexual exploitation. |
| Suicides and Causes |
In 2022, India witnessed a significant surge in suicides, totalling over 1.7 Lakh cases, reflecting a concerning increase of about 4% compared to 2021 |
| Major causes included ‘Family Problems,’ ‘Marriage Related Problems,’ Bankruptcy and indebtedness, ‘Unemployment and professional issues’ and Illness’. |
| Maharashtra reported the highest number of suicides, followed closely by Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Telangana. |
| Daily wage earners constituted a significant portion, accounting for over 26% of the total suicides. Agricultural workers and farmers were also disproportionately affected, forming a substantial part of the suicide statistics. This was followed by unemployed persons. Among all suicides reported in the year, over 12,000 were of students. |
| Escalating Crimes Against SCs and STs |
The Crime in India report highlighted an overall increase in crimes and atrocities against Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) persons. |
| States like Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Telangana experienced a surge in such cases in 2022. |
| Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan persist as key contributors, consistently ranking among the top five states with the highest occurrences of crimes and atrocities against SC and ST communities. |
| Crimes Against Women |
A total of about 4,45,000 cases of crime against women were reported in 2022, marking a 4% increase from 2021. |
| Dominant Reasons included ‘Cruelty by Husband or His Relatives,’ ‘Kidnapping & Abduction of Women,’ and ‘Assault on Women with Intent to Outrage Her Modesty.’ |
| Crimes Against Children |
Cases of crimes against children showed an increase of 8.7% compared to 2021. A majority of these cases are related to kidnapping and abduction |
| Crime Against Senior Citizens |
Cases of crimes against senior citizens rose by about 9%. Major reasons included Physical hurt followed by theft and forgery, cheating, and fraud |
| Animal Attacks on the Rise |
The NCRB report reveals a concerning trend in the number of people dying or getting injured due to animal attacks. A significant 19% increase in such incidents was recorded in 2022 compared to 2021. |
| Maharashtra reported the highest number of cases, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, and Madhya Pradesh followed with varying numbers of reported cases. |
| Offences Against the State |
Offences against the State exhibited a slight increase in 2022 compared to the previous year. There was approximately a 25% rise in cases registered under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) during this period. |
| Cases under the sedition Section of the IPC experienced a significant decline. The decrease in sedition cases may be attributed to the Supreme Court’s decision in May 2022 to keep sedition cases in abeyance (hold). |
| Rise in Economic Offences |
Economic offences are categorized into criminal breach of trust, forgery, cheating, fraud (FCF), and counterfeiting. FCF accounted for the majority of cases (1,70,901 cases), followed by criminal breach of trust (21,814 cases) and counterfeiting (670 cases). |
| Crimes Against Foreigners |
192 cases registered against foreigners, a 28% increase from 150 cases in 2021. 57% of victims were from the Asian continent, while 18% were from African countries. |
| High Chargesheeting Rates |
States with the highest charge sheeting rates under IPC crimes are Kerala, Puducherry, and West Bengal. The chargesheet rate reflects cases where police reached the stage of framing charges against the accused. |
