NCRB: 'Cruelty by husband and relatives' accounts for over 1.2 lakh cases; crime against children increases by 6%

NEW DELHI: The Crime data yet again brings into focus abuse faced by women within the confines of their homes and the growing crime against children. Crime against children marked a worrying increase of nearly 6% in 2024 when compared to 2023.

NCRB data for 2024 shows that cases of "cruelty by husband and relatives" like every year, continued to top the list among crime against women accounting for over 1.20 lakh cases (27%).

On the whole over 4.41 lakh cases of crime against women were registered during 2024, showing a decrease of 1.5% over 2023 (over 4.48 lakh cases).

‘Kidnapping and abduction of women’ made up the second biggest category of crimes (67,829 cases, 15%) followed by ‘Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act cases (67,809 cases, 15%) and ‘Assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty’ (48,303 cases, 10.9%).

The crime rate registered per lakh women population was 64.6 in 2024 in comparison with 66.2 in 2023.

As far as "crime against children" goes data shows that over 1.87 lakh cases of crime against children were registered during 2024, showing an increase of 5.9% over 2023 (over 1.77 lakh cases).

In percentage terms, major crime heads under ‘crime qgainst children’ during 2024 were ‘kidnapping and abduction’ (75,108 cases, 40%) and ‘Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act cases' (69,191 cases, 37%).

The crime rate registered per lakh children population was 42.3 in 2024 in comparison with 39.9 in 2023.