The number of crimes registered across India declined by 6% in 2024, according to the latest report released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) on Wednesday. As per the data, a total of 58.85 lakh cases were recorded in 2024, compared to 62.41 lakh cases in 2023. The crime rate, calculated as cases per one lakh population, also dropped from 448.3 in 2023 to 418.9 in 2024, indicating an overall decline in both volume and incidence of crime. The sharpest reduction was seen in ‘hurt’ cases registered under IPC sections related to injury, which fell by 30.58%, from 6.36 lakh in 2023 to 4.41 lakh in 2024. However, the report noted that this decline may partly be due to legal changes under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, implemented in 2023, which merged several sections and made simple hurt a non-cognizable offence. A total of 27,049 murder cases were reported in 2024, marking a 2.4% decrease from the previous year. Personal disputes remained the leading cause of murders, followed by motives such as revenge, enmity and greed. Rate of crime against women decresed Crimes against women also saw a marginal decline of 1.5%, with 4.41 lakh cases recorded in 2024 compared to 4.48 lakh in 2023. The crime rate against women dropped from 66.2 to 64.6. The majority of these cases were related to cruelty by husband or relatives, followed by kidnapping, offences against minors, and assault with intent to outrage modesty. The report also recorded a 3.6% decline in crimes against Scheduled Castes (SC), with 55,698 cases in 2024 compared to 57,789 in 2023. Crimes against Scheduled Tribes (ST) saw a sharper drop of 23.1%, falling from 12,960 cases in 2023 to 9,966 in 2024. The NCRB report highlights an overall downward trend in crime figures, while noting that changes in legal classifications may have contributed to some of the decline.
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