New Delhi: The latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data released on Wednesday revealed that nationwide lockdown has resulted in the decline of various crimes, especially incidents against women and children across India.
“The country remained under complete lockdown from March 25, 2020 and May 31, 2020 due to COVID-19 Pandemic (first wave), during which the public movement was very limited. The cases registered under crimes against women, children and senior citizens, theft, burglary, robbery and dacoity have therefore declined, whereas Covid related enforcement has resulted in the increase of cases registered under 'Disobedience to order duly promulgated by Public Servant (Sec. 188 IPC)', under 'Other IPC Crimes' and under 'Other State Local Acts',” the NCRB crime data noted.
The country, however, witnessed an increase in murder cases in 2020. A total of 29,193 cases of murder were registered during 2020, showing a marginal increase of 1.0 per cent over 2019 (28,915 cases).
Cyber-crimes in India has also increased in 2020. A total of 50,035 cases were registered under cybercrimes, showing an increase of 11.8 per cent in registration over 2019 (44,735 cases). The crime rate under this category increased from 3.3 in 2019 to 3.7 in 2020.
In 2020, 60.2 per cent of cyber-crime cases registered were for the motive of fraud (30,142 out of 50,035 cases) followed by sexual exploitation with 6.6 per cent (3,293 cases) and extortion with 4.9 per cent (2,440 cases).
Under the category “Environment Related Offences”, the NCRB data shows that during the year 2020, a total of 61,767 cases were registered as compared to 34,676 cases in the year 2019, showing an increase of 78.1 per cent. Crime head-wise cases revealed that the cases registered under the Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA) with 80.5 per cent (49,710 Cases) were the highest followed by Noise Pollution Acts (State/Central) with 11.8 per cent (7,318 Cases).
