Friday, 17 May, 2024
By: Yash Gupte
29,272 murder cases were reported in 2021, representing a marginal (0.3%) rise over 2020 (29,193 cases). Most of the murders in India (9,765) were committed due to ‘disputes’ followed by ‘personal vendetta or enmity’ (3,782 cases) and ‘gain’ (1,692 cases).
The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) released its annual report titled ‘Crime in India’ for the year 2021 on 29th August 2022. The ‘Crime in India’ report published by the NCRB is a compilation of statistics of different crimes committed in a year in the country. In 2021, a total of 60,96,310 cognizable crimes—36,63,360 under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and 24,32,950 under special and local laws (SLL) were reported. It shows a decrease of 5,04,975 (7.6%) in the number of cases registered over 2020 (66,01,285 cases). The number of crimes reported per lakh people fell from 487.8 in 2020 to 445.9 in 2021.
The NCRB or the National Crime Records Bureau was founded in January 1986 with the goal of forming a body to gather and maintain crime-related data on the recommendations of the Tandon Committee, National Police Commission (1977-1981) and the task force under Ministry of Home Affairs (1985). It operates under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. Apart from publishing annual reports, the functions of NCRB include Collection, coordination and exchange of information on inter-state and international criminals to the states.
The major serious crimes included in the NCRB report include Murder, Rapes, Kidnapping and abduction, rioting, economic offences, cyber crimes, human trafficking, various crimes against women, crimes against children, crimes against senior citizens and others. Coming over to one of the most serious crimes, Murder, a total of 29,272 murder cases were reported in 2021, representing a marginal (0.3%) rise over 2020 (29,193 cases). Most of the murders in India (9,765) were committed due to ‘disputes’ followed by ‘personal vendetta or enmity’ (3,782 cases) and ‘gain’ (1,692 cases).
The chart below shows top ten states in India with highest number of murders in 2019, 2020 and 2021.
Source: National Crime Records Bureau
The highest number of murders was reported from the northern state of Uttar Pradesh where 3806 murders were reported in 2019, 3779 in 2020 and 3717 in 2021. UP is one of the few states which have reported declining number of murders in 2021 as compared to the previous years. Apart from Uttar Pradesh, the states of Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Odisha reported a declining trend in murders. In case of Bihar, it reported 2799 murders in 2021 while it had reported 3150 murders in 2020. There was also a marginal decrease in murders in case of Odisha as Odisha reported 1470 murder in 2020 and 1394 in 2021.
A few states among the top ten reported less murders in 2020 but the reason behind this cannot be attributed to better safeguards and security. The reason behind the decline in murders and other crime in 2020 was the lockdowns and strict quarantine protocols imposed due to the covid-19 pandemic. But this was not applicable in case of all the states. Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Odisha and Karnataka reported an increase in case of murders in 2020 as compared to 2019. Madhya Pradesh reported the sharpest increase as 1795 murders were reported in 2019 and this number increased to 2102 in 2020. In the case of Maharashtra, it reported the steepest increase in murder in 2021 as compared to 2020. It had reported 2163 cases of murder in 2020 and this number went up to 2330 in 2021. Tamil Nadu witnessed the least increase (25) in murders as the number of murders went up from 1661 in 2020 to 1686 in 2021.
Not just in case of murders, but Maharashtra also recorded the highest number of cases (3, 67, 218) under the IPC in 2021 but it decreased by 6.8 per cent from 3,94,017 in 2020, and it was followed by Uttar Pradesh (3,57,905).
Source: National Crime Records Bureau
There was decline in murders in India in the year 2019 as the number of murders went down from 29,017 in 2018 to 28,915 in 2019. But this figure increased to 29,193 in 2020 and further went up to 29, 272 in 2021. This shows that except 2019, there is an increase in murders in India. There are different reasons for murders in India from disputes to love affairs.
