NCRB 2021: 15% hike in crimes against women in 5 South Indian states; Telangana in 8th spot

A total of 14 kinds of offences are considered crimes against women.

These are dowry deaths, rape, murder after rape, abetment to women suicide and miscarriage, acid attack, cruelty by husband or his relatives, kidnapping leading to murder, selling of minors and women trafficking, insult to modesty, cyber crimes and protection of girls against sexual offences.

In South India, Telangana is followed by Andhra Pradesh (17,752 cases), Karnataka (14,468 cases), Kerala (13,539 cases) and Tamil Nadu (8,501 cases).

Meanwhile, the report comes at a time when the investigation of the Jubilee Hills gang-rape case involving minors is underway in Hyderabad, in which six accused — including five juveniles — were arrested in July this year.

All the accused, after judicial remand, were later granted conditional bail.

Rising crimes against women in South India

Telangana saw a 15 percent increase in crime cases registered against women, accounting for 20,865 cases registered in 2021 as compared to 17,791 cases reported in 2020.

The highest number of these cases — 9,648 — pertained to cruelty by the husband or his relatives, one of the most common forms of crimes against women in the country, along with the assault to outrage their modesty and sexual offences.

According to the NCRB report, Kerala witnessed the highest spike of 25 percent in crime cases registered against women.

It was followed by Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Karnataka, and Karnataka, the report said.

Meanwhile, the top five categories in the NCRB report, which saw the most number of registered cases, were cruelty by husband or his relatives, assault of women with intent to outrage the modesty, sexual offences committed against minor girls, rape, and kidnapping.

The highest number of cases registered in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Kerala pertained to cruelty by the husband and his relatives.

Meanwhile, Karnataka witnessed the highest assault of women with intent to outrage modesty, as Tamil Nadu registered the most number of cases of sexual offences committed against minor girls.

Rest of India

Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan led the national figures for three consecutive years — 2019, 2020 and 2021 — in the highest number of crimes-against-women cases registered, according to the 2021 NCRB report.

Maharashtra, ahead of West Bengal in 2019, was back in the third spot after trailing the eastern state in 2020.

Uttar Pradesh saw a total of 56,083 such cases registered in 2021, the report said, as compared to 49,385 in 2020.

Right after Uttar Pradesh was Rajasthan, accounting for 40,378 crimes-against-women cases registered in 2021. The state recorded a 15 percent rise as compared to the cases registered in 2020.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra ranked third in India for sexual crimes committed against children, recording a total of 39,526 cases, with an increase of 19 percent from the cases registered in 2020.

Most cases under investigation

In India, a total of 5,92,515 registered cases for crimes against women are still in the investigation phase, with the most number of cases being probed in Uttar Pradesh.

As per the report, these cases are classified under three categories: cases reported in 2021, cases pending before 2021, and cases reopened for investigation.

South Indian states, here, saw a change in the ranking of states as Andhra Pradesh leads with 31,962 cases to be disposed of by the police.

Meanwhile, Telangana stood in the second spot with 30,677 cases under investigation, followed by Karnataka — 20,388 reported cases.

Kerala and Tamil Nadu were next on the list with 19,490 cases and 15,082 cases, respectively, said the report.

As per the NCRB, a total of 147 cases reported for crimes against women were reopened in the five southern states, with the highest in Kerala: 104 cases.

It was followed by Telangana (31 cases), Andhra Pradesh (eight cases) and Tamil Nadu (four cases).