A large number of the 1.70 lakh counterfeiting cases was linked to terror operatives.
NEW DELHI
Counterfeiting emerged as the most common economic offence in the country with 1.70 lakh such cases being reported in 2022—a surge of 11.1%, shows the latest report of the National Crime Records Bureau, which also points to a growing criminal tendency to get rich fast by printing or circulating home-made fake currency. A large number of the 1.70 lakh counterfeiting cases was linked to terror operatives against whom action was taken by security agencies like the National Investigation Agency for procuring fake Indian currency notes (FICN) from across the border.
In terms of crimes against women, Delhi registered the maximum number of such offences. With 14,247 cases, Delhi had the highest rate of crime against women at 144.4 against the country’s average of 66.4. The crime rate reflects the number of cases registered per lakh population.
Corruption cases rose 10.5% in 2022 as compared to the previous year. State Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACBs) recorded 4,139 cases in 2022 compared to 3,745 cases in 2021.
While cybercrimes saw a jump of 24.4% in 2022, crimes against foreigners increased 28% during this period. Under cybercrimes, 65,893 cases were registered, showing an increase of 24.4% in registration over 2021 (52,974 cases), NCRB data said, adding that around 64.8% of registered cases were of fraud, followed by extortion (5.5%), and sexual exploitation (5.2%).
Fewer lives were lost to murderers in 2022 as NCRB data showed that a total of 28,522 cases of murder were registered during this period, recording a marginal decline of 2.6% over 2021 (29,272 cases).
Tourists and foreign travellers to the country were wronged by criminals in 192 cases in 2022 in contrast to 150 in 2021. Human traffickers also expanded their operations, while law enforcement agencies booked 2,250 cases in 2022 as compared to 2,189 cases in 2021—a rise of 2.8%.
Twelve thousand students committed suicide in 2022 while at the national level every two out of three people ending their own lives were men, showed the NCRB report. Student suicides were just 1.2% of the total suicides, while 31.7% out of these were triggered by family problems, other than marriage related issues. A total of 4.5% suicides were linked to lover affairs, while illness was the reason for suicide in 18.4% of the cases.
Maximum suicides in 2022 were reported from Maharashtra (22,746), Tamil Nadu (19,834), Madhya Pradesh (15,386), Karnataka (13,606), Kerala (10,162), and Telangana (9,980).
Reflecting the occupational trend of suicides, the report said 9.6% of the suicides were by people who were self-employed or salaried professionals, followed by unemployed persons comprising 9.2% of all suicides reported in India in 2022.
Amid the gloomy picture of rise in crime data, the only positive that emerged from the NCRB report seemed to be the marginal decline in the national crime rate—the number of cases registered per lakh population. From 445.9 crimes reported per lakh people in 2021 the figure came down to 422.2 crimes per lakh people in 2022. In 2022, 58,24,946 cognizable crimes were reported as compared to 60,96,310 cases in 2021.
The State/UT reporting the highest charge-sheeting rate under IPC crimes were Kerala (96.0%), Puducherry (91.3%) and West Bengal (90.6%).
In the area of crimes against women, the NCRB data showed that in 2022, 445,256 incidents of crime against women were reported. Compared to 2021 (428,278 cases), there was a 4% increase in number.
Cruelty by husband or his relatives accounted for the highest percentage of crimes against women (31.4%), followed by kidnapping and abduction of women (19.2%), and assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty (18.7%).
In 2022, 107,588 cases of kidnapping and abduction were reported, which represents a 5.8% increase from 101,707 occurrences in 2021.
An earlier report by the Bureau on occupancy in prisons had said that jails in the country are bursting at the seams due to the number of lodged inmates being 131% of their capacity as of December 2021. The percentage of prisoners in jails rose by one percentage point as compared to the previous year. The increasing strain on prisons points to the limited gains from the law and justice department’s campaigns to identify undertrial prisoners eligible for release, and the construction and use of 11 new prisons since 2021.
According to the 2022 Prison Statistics India (PSI) report, there were 573,220 prisoners in India and almost 75% of them were undertrials, a figure that has not changed much over the years.