New Delhi: India recorded 58.85 lakh criminal cases in 2024, a decline of 6% from the 62.41 lakh cases reported in 2023, according to the latest data released on May 6, by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). The crime rate, measured in terms of cases registered per lakh population, dipped correspondingly from 448.3 in 2023 to 418.9 in 2024. Of the recorded cases, 35.44 lakh were registered under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS), and 23.41 lakh under special and local laws, the report revealed.This apparent improvement in the overall crime figures ought to be analysed keeping in mind the complicated reality, with cybercrime, crimes against children and economic offences posing significant concerns, and the potential impact of legislative reclassification on reflected numbers.Cases classified under the ‘hurt’ category in IPC sections 325, 326 and 329-335 observed a major 30.58% drop, reducing from 6.36 lakh to 4.41 lakh in 2024. NCRB, however, clarified that the dip in cases under ‘hurt or grievous hurt’ may be attributed to changes in the BNS, which replaced the IPC in 2023. Sections of ‘hurt or grievous hurt’ have been merged while ‘simple hurt’ has been reclassified as a non-cognisable offence, meaning it no longer appears in police registration data. Thus, the fall is likely attributed to legislative change rather than an actual reduction in number of incidents.Cyber offences increase by 18%One of the most striking trends in the data is the continued and accelerating rise in digital offences. Over 1.01 lakh cybercrime cases were reported in 2024, an increase of 17.9% over 2023’s record of 86, 420 cases, which itself had been a sharp 31.2% increase from 2022’s 65,893 cases. The cybercrime rate also rose from 6.2 per lakh population to 7.3 in 2024.During 2024, of the 1,01,928 cases registered, 73,987 or 72.6% were motivated by financial fraud. Sexual exploitation accounted for 3.1% or 3,190 cases, followed by extortion at 2.5%. This pattern has been consistent across multiple years, with fraud comprising 68.9% of cybercrimes in 2023.Delhi recorded 404 cases of cybercrime in 2024, a marginal decline from the 407 cases registered in 2023. Of these, 196 cases were related to the transmission or publication of explicit content in electronic form.Economic offences and forgery on the riseEconomic offences observed a 4.6% hike, with 2,14,379 cases reported in 2024 against the previous year’s 2,04,973 cases. Out of the three specified categories under economic offences, FCF (forgery, cheating and fraud) accounted for 1,92,382 cases, nearly 90% of the total incidents. Criminal breach of trust registered 21,251 cases followed by counterfeiting with 746 cases.During the year, authorities seized 8,21,100 fake currency notes with a face value of Rs 54.61 crore.Crimes against women and childrenCrimes against women decreased slightly by 1.5%. The crime rate under this section also fell from 66.2 to 64.6. Nevertheless, the total number of cases remained obscenely high with 4.41 lakh cases registered over the year.A majority of the cases under the category stemmed from pervasive domestic abuse, ‘cruelty by husband or relatives’ registering 1,20,227 cases in 2024 and making up 27.2% of the total. Kidnapping and abduction of women was the second most dominant cause with 67,829 cases (15.4%), followed by a massive 67,809 cases registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) Act. ‘Assault with intent to outrage modesty’ constituted 10.9% of the cases.Uttar Pradesh reported the highest number of crimes against women at 66, 398 cases, followed by Maharashtra (47,954) and West Bengal (34,360). Nagaland, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh recorded the least number of such cases. UP also led the numbers in deaths due to dowry (2,057), followed by Bihar (1,078).Conversely, crime against children noticed a rise of 5.9% over 2023, recording a total of 1,87,702 cases. Kidnapping and abduction formed the largest sub-category at 75,108 cases, while 69, 191 cases were reported under POSCO. The crime rate per lakh children population was 42.3 in 2024.Atrocities against marginalised communitiesAfter a sharp rise of 28.8% in crimes against people belonging to Scheduled Tribe (ST) communities between 2022 and 2023, similar cases fell by 23.1% in 2024, dropping from 12,960 to 9,966. Crime rate decreased from 12.4 to 9.5. The highest number of cases (1,375 or 13.8%) were registered under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. 1,268 cases were filed under the ‘rape’ sub-category, followed by 613 cases under ‘assault with intent to outrage modesty.’Cases filed under crimes against people from Scheduled Caste (SC) communities declined by 3.6%, from 57,789 to 55,698 in 2024, with a crime rate of 27.7. The SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act recorded the highest number of cases at 12.5%, followed by cases under ‘grievous hurt’ (7.7%) and ‘rape’ (7.6%).Uttar Pradesh again led the numbers in crimes related to SC communities with 14,642 incidents, while Madhya Pradesh recorded the most offences against ST communities (3,165).Dip in murdersMurder cases in 2024 stood at 27,049, a marginal decline of 2.4% from 2023, which itself was lower by 2.8% from 2022. Disputes continued to be the top motive for such crimes (9,607 cases), while other reasons included ‘personal vendetta or enmity’ (3,638 cases) and ‘gain’ (1,460 cases).Death by suicide, drug overdose and agrarian distressThe NCRB’s companion report, “Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India 2024,” reported 1,70,746 instances of death by suicide across the country. People in the agriculture sector, those unemployed and daily wage workers formed a substantial share of these cases.10,546 people from the farming sector died by suicide, consisting of 4,633 farmers of cultivators and 5,913 agricultural labourers, making up 6.2% of all those who died by suicide. Around 31% of total cases were reported among daily wage labourers.Deaths due to drug overdose saw a major 50% rise in 2024. The report stated that 978 people died by overdose, with the highest number of deaths recorded in Tamil Nadu (313) and Punjab (106).Crimes against the ‘state’Cases registered under ‘offences against the state’ rose by 6.6% in 2024, from 4,873 in 2023 to cases. 84.6% of these cases were filed under the Prevention of Damage of Public Property Act. 649 cases (12.5%) were lodged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.Lastly, in the context of enforcement, Kerala led the states in highest charge-sheet efficiency, filing chargesheets in 94.5% of the cases. Puducherry and West Bengal follow closely with 91% and 90.6% respectively. More than 26.72 lakh people were arrested under the IPC and BNS, of whom over 10.71 lakh were convicted.