For the fifth consecutive year, Assam recorded the highest rate of crimes against women in 2021, according to the National Crime Record Bureau’s “Crime in India” report for last year.

The rate is calculated as the number of crimes recorded for every one lakh people.

According to the data, the rate of crimes against women last year stood at 168.3 in Assam, an increase from 154.3 in 2020. Next on the list were Odisha at 137.8, Haryana at 119.7, and Rajasthan at 105.4.

In terms of the actual number of cases, Uttar Pradesh with 56,083 cases, topped the list, followed by Rajasthan (40,738), Maharashtra (39,526), West Bengal (35,884) and Odisha (31,352).

Nagaland reported the lowest crime rate against women in 2021 (5.5). It also had the lowest number of actual cases – 54.

A total of 4,28,278 cases of crimes against women were registered in the country under the Indian Penal Code and special and local laws last year. The number is 15.3% more than the 3,71,503 cases registered in 2020.

Decline in criminal cases

Overall, 60,96,310 crimes were registered in the country last year. This marked a decline of 7.6% in all crimes as compared to 66,01,285 cases in 2020.

“Crime rate registered per lakh population has declined from 487.8 in 2020 to 445.9 in 2021,” the report noted. “During 2021, registration of cases under IPC [Indian Penal Code] has declined by 13.9% whereas SLL [special and local laws] crimes have increased by 3.7% over 2020.”

Out of the total cases, 1,01,707 cases were of kidnapping and abduction, 31,677 of rape and 29,272 of murder.

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Crimes against children, including cases of kidnapping and rape, increased by 16.2% in the country in 2021, the report showed. The highest number of such cases were reported in Madhya Pradesh (19,173), Maharasthra (17,261) and Uttar Pradesh (16,838).

Cases of human trafficking also rose by 27.7% in the country in 2021, according to the report.

Crimes against SCs and STs

A total of 50,900 cases of crimes against Scheduled Castes were registered in India in 2021. The number rose marginally from 50,291 in 2020, according to the report.

Out of these, 13,146 cases were registered in Uttar Pradesh alone. However, in terms of crime rate, the state ranked fifth among all states with 31.8 crimes being committed per lakh population of Scheduled Castes in the state.

Madhya Pradesh had the highest rate of 61.8, followed by Bihar (35.3) and Telangana (32.6).

Meanwhile, crimes against Scheduled Tribes increased from 8,272 in 2020 to 8,802 in 2021. Kerala recorded the highest rate of crime against Scheduled Tribes at 27.4, followed by Rajasthan (23) and Madhya Pradesh (17.2).