Crimes against women and children in Punjab dropped in 2022 compared to 2021, as the state saw a marginal rise in overall crime incidents, according to the report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
The report is titled 'Crime in India- 2022' and is based on information gathered from different states, union territories and central agencies. Overall, crime incidents in Punjab under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Special and Original Laws (SLL) have hardly risen to 73,625 in 2022 from 73,581 in 2021, according to the report.
Incidents related to murder declined from 723 in 2021 to 670 in 2022, while cases of kidnapping and abduction dropped by 7.44 per cent. Violent crimes in the state also dropped from 6,322 in 2021 to 6,230 in 2022. The crimes against women in Punjab reported 5,572 cases in 2022 as against 5,662 in 2021, showing a 1.50 per cent dip in similar incidents, according to the report.
There were 1,478 cases of kidnapping and abduction of women, three incidents of murder with rape, 71 dowry deaths, and two cases of acid attack in 2022, as per the reports. There were 517 cases of rape reported in Punjab in 2022. The report stated a drop of 2.42 per cent in crimes against children. There were 2,494 cases of crimes against children in 2022, as against 2,556 in 2021.
Under crimes against children, there were 41 murder cases and 1,338 cases of kidnapping and abduction in 2022. The NCRB report stated that 883 cases were registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act in 2022. There was a rise in juvenile crimes, as 452 cases were registered in 2022, as against 311 in 2021, which shows an increase of 45 per cent. Juvenile crimes included murder, culpable homicide not amounting to murder and attempt to murder, the report stated.
The crimes against elderly citizens dipped from 335 cases in 2021 to 314 cases in 2022 in Punjab. These included 62 cases of murder. The report stated there was also a dip in crimes or atrocities against the scheduled castes, with Punjab seeing 162 cases in 2022 as against 200 in 2021.
Punjab saw a rise in economic crimes from 3,599 cases in 2021 to 3,667 in 2022. It stated that these included criminal breach of trust, counterfeiting, cheating, and forgery. The state saw a 40 per cent jump in corruption offences, registering 227 cases in 2022 about the Prevention of Corruption Act compared to 162 in 2021. The NCRB said 65 trap cases, two forgery cases, and 135 criminal misconduct cases were reported in 2022.
In 2022, the number of cases of cybercrimes increased to 697, compared to 551 in 2021. There were 78 cases against the state, including those of sedition and damage to public property, in 2022, as per the report. Sixty cases were registered under the Forest Act and the Wildlife Protection Act.
In the Union Territory (UT) of Chandigarh, the overall criminal cases increased to 3,658 in 2022 from 2,995 in 2021, according to the NCRB report.
The number of crimes against women dropped as Chandigarh saw 325 similar cases in 2022 as opposed to 343 in 2021. There were 78 rape incidents in the UT in 2022.
The city saw a drop in crimes against children. It registered 224 cases in 2022 as against 234 in 2021. However, the rate of crimes committed by juveniles increased from 54 in 2021 to 80 in 2022.