Crime in India has been recorded since the British Raj, with comprehensive statistics now compiled annually by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), under the Ministry of Home Affairs (India).
In 2023, a total of 62,41,569 crimes, comprising 37,63,102 Indian Penal Code (IPC) crimes and 24,78,467 Special and Local Laws (SLL) crimes were registered nationwide. The crime rate is 448.3 in 2023, highest in the previous three years. In 2023, offences affecting the human body contributed 31.5%, offences against property contributed 23.3%, and miscellaneous IPC crimes contributed 30.3% of all cognizable IPC crimes. Murder rate was 2.0 per 100,000, kidnapping rate was 8.2 per 100,000, and rape rate was 4.4 per 100,000 in 2023.
According to the UN, the homicide rate was 2.95 per 100,000 in 2020 with 40,651 recorded, down from a peak of 5.46 per 100,000 in 1992 and essentially unchanged since 2017, higher than most countries in Asia and Europe and lower than most in the Americas and Africa although numerically one of the highest due to the large population.
The percentage of IPC cases pending investigation at the end of 2023 was 29.2%. Charge-sheet rate is calculated as all cases where charges were framed as a percentage of total cases disposed after investigation. The charge-sheet rate of IPC crimes in India was 72.7% in 2023. Conviction rate is calculated as all cases where accused was convicted by court after completion of a trial, as a percentage of total cases where trial was completed. The conviction rate of IPC crimes in India was 54.0% in 2023.
In 2023, 45,544 murders were under investigation by police, of which charges were framed in 24,575; and 40,393 rapes were under investigation by police, of which charges were framed in 24,582. In 2023, 2,72,198 murders were under trial in courts, of which conviction was given in 7,181; and 2,03,067 rapes were under trial in courts, of which conviction was given in 4,464. The murder conviction rate was 37.7 and the rape conviction rate was 22.7 in 2023.
Over time
A report published by the NCRB compared the crime rates of 1953 and 2006. The report noted that burglary (known as house-breaking in India) declined over a period of 53 years by 79.84% (from 147,379, a rate of 39.3/100,000 in 1953 to 91,666, a rate of 7.9/100,000 in 2006), murder has increased by 7.39% (from 9,803, a rate of 2.61 in 1953 to 32,481, a rate of 2.81/100,000 in 2006).Snapshots (1953—2006) National Crime Records Bureau
Kidnapping increased by 47.80% (from 5,261, a rate of 1.40/100,000 in 1953 to 23,991, a rate of 2.07/100,000 in 2006), robbery declined by 28.85% (from 8,407, rate of 2.24/100,000 in 1953 to 18,456, rate of 1.59/100,000 in 2006) and riots have declined by 10.58% (from 20,529, a rate of 5.47/100,000 in 1953 to 56,641, a rate of 4.90/100,000 in 2006).
In 2006, cognizable crimes were committed including (IPC) crimes and Special & Local Laws (SLL) crimes, with an increase of 1.5% over 2005 (50,26,337). IPC crime rate in 2006 was 167.7 compared to 165.3 in 2005 showing an increase of 1.5% in 2006 over 2005. SLL crime rate in 2006 was 287.9 compared to 290.5 in 2005 showing a decline of 0.9% in 2006 over 2005.
YearTotal cog. crimes under IPC, per 100,000Murder per 100,000Kidnapping per 100,000Robbery per 100,000Burglary (known as house-breaking in India) per 100,0001953160.52.611.402.2439.32006162.32.812.071.607.92% Change in 2006 over 19531.17.3947.80−28.85−79.84
SOURCE: National Crime Records Bureau
Crime by location
As of 2019, Delhi had the highest crime rate (incidence of crime per 100,000 population) among all States of India at 1586.1, rising steeply from 1342.5. Delhi's crime rate was 4.1 times higher than the national average of 385.5 that year. States in Northeast India have consistently reported much lower crime rates, with 4 of the 5 states having the lowest crime in being from the region in 2018.
In terms of the absolute number of crimes in 2018, Uttar Pradesh reported the most (12.2% of nationally reported crime). Maharashtra, after topping the list over the previous 4-years, Kerala dropped to the third-position in absolute numbers, accounting for 10.1% of all crimes.
The violent crime rate (per 100,000 population) was highest in Assam (86.4), Tripura (62), Haryana (49.4), West Bengal (46.1) and Arunachal Pradesh (41.7). However, in terms of absolute number of cases, Uttar Pradesh reported the highest incidence of violent crimes accounting for 15.2% of total violent crimes in India (65,155 out of 428,134) followed by Maharashtra (10.7%), and Bihar and West Bengal each accounting for 10.4% of such cases.
Absolute number of reported crimes & crime rates across India State/UT 2016 2017 2018 2019 Percentage share of state/UT (2019) Crime rate in 2019 (IPC+SLL crimes) India 4831515 5007044 5074635 5156172 100.0 385.5 Andhra Pradesh 129389 148002 144703 145751 2.8 278.6 Arunachal Pradesh 2700 2746 2817 2877 0.1 190.9 Assam 107014 109952 120572 123783 2.6 385.8 Bihar 189696 236055 262815 269109 5.2 224.0 Chhattisgarh 84192 90516 98233 96561 1.9 334.7 Goa 3706 3943 3884 3727 0.1 241.5 Gujarat 435422 334799 393194 431066 8.4 631.6 Haryana 143111 224816 191229 166336 3.2 577.4 Himachal Pradesh 17249 17796 19594 19924 0.4 272.4 Jammu and Kashmir 26624 25608 27276 25408 0.5 187.8 Jharkhand 47817 52664 55664 62206 1.2 165.5 Karnataka 179479 184063 163416 163691 3.2 248.1 Kerala 707870 653500 512167 453083 8.8 1287.7 Madhya Pradesh 365154 379682 405129 395619 7.7 478.9 Maharashtra 430866 467753 515674 509443 9.9 415.8 Manipur 4098 4250 3781 3661 0.1 117.7 Meghalaya 3582 3952 3482 3897 0.1 120.6 Mizoram 2800 2738 2351 2880 0.1 241.0 Nagaland 1908 1553 1775 1661 0.0 77.1 Odisha 103565 103866 107408 121525 2.4 277.9 Punjab 57739 70673 70318 72855 1.4 243.3 Rajasthan 251147 245553 250546 304394 5.9 392.3 Sikkim 1020 979 869 821 0.0 123.5 Tamil Nadu 467369 420876 499188 455094 8.8 600.3 Telangana 120273 133197 126858 131254 2.5 352.0 Tripura 4081 4238 6078 5988 0.1 149.6 Uttar Pradesh 494025 600082 585157 628578 12.2 278.2 Uttarakhand 16074 28861 34715 28268 0.5 252.8 West Bengal 204400 195537 188063 ***** 3.6 193.7 Andaman and Nicobar Islands 2491 3014 3699 4034 0.1 1013.6 Chandigarh 4256 5462 5967 4518 0.1 381.6 Dadra and Nagar Haveli 256 309 315 290 0.0 52.2 Daman and Diu 287 382 334 370 0.0 87.5 Delhi 216920 244714 262612 316261 5.2 1586.1 Lakshadweep 50 114 77 182 0.0 267.6 Puducherry 4885 4799 4674 4004 0.1 264.3
Due to non-receipt of data from West Bengal in time for 2019, data furnished for 2018 has been used Sources :
Cities Among metropolitan cities, Kolkata (103.4 in 2021) was the safest city, however, the experts doubted the accuracy of the data. After Kolkata, Pune (256.8) and Hyderabad (259.9) had the lowest crime rates (per 1 lakh urban population) among the 19-cities with more than two million inhabitants in India. While almost all major cities have historically had a crime rate higher than that of their domain states, since 2018, Kolkata and Mumbai (309.9) have been the only mega cities to have a lower crime rate than their states, West Bengal and Maharashtra respectively. Among other metropolises, Kozhikode (523.2) and Pune were the only ones to have a lower crime rate than their states. It is generally acknowledged that cities have a greater propensity to crime and that megacities have a higher crime rate than smaller cities.
Delhi (1906.8) remained the most crime ridden urban area in India for the fourth-year as of 2019. Over 82% of the 290,000 crimes in Delhi were thefts which jumped by more than 25% in 2019. In sharp contrast, thefts accounted for just a little over 20% of the 3.2 million crimes registered nationwide. Crime in the capital city has incrementally expanded over the previous years and jumped from 2018 when the rime rate was 1385.1. Despite significantly reducing in scale, the crime rate in Kochi remained the second-highest at 1711.2, mainly due to Kochi Police booking the highest number of rash driving cases in their jurisdiction, 10508 separate cases in 2019. Jaipur (1392.5) had the third-highest crime rate for the second-year, with crimes against women rising fast. The city had the highest rape rate of 35.6 per 100,000 population.
Crime in 2020 Sl.No. CityMurder Culpable Homicide not amounting to Murder Infanticide Foeticide Dowry Deaths Attempt to Commit Murder Attempt to Commit Culpable Homicide Grievous Hurt Kidnapping and Abduction Rape Attempt to Commit Rape Rioting Robbery Dacoity Arson Total Violent Crimes 1Ahmedabad (Gujarat)701210013362131817709311923299572Bengaluru (Karnataka)17910002850222137121085196503325525453Chennai (Tamil Nadu)150240333591073731147658213414394Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu)310000240194202354341645Delhi City461573110956256440640119679688194696898616Ghaziabad (Uttar Pradesh)2361011232057781801123262797Hyderabad (Telangana)71500211397107451920198154710458Indore (Madhya Pradesh)635002078363466128021632279399Jaipur (Rajasthan)957002685187532409272683216133310Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh)41110030362453223420580047311Kochi (Kerala)930002158511543120613228712Kolkata (West Bengal)53160091211357308110691771298113Kozhikode (Kerala)54000115845122422145442045314Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh)81280448885524373576470134224159215Mumbai (Maharashtra)1489141234811068117332203097181523415116Nagpur (Maharashtra)97220812102813347901031591923122817Patna (Bihar)790002470501524271881466480163118Pune (Maharashtra)7781061150273435590146172820132019Surat (Gujarat)1167050820141163270583639647Total Cities1849192131435535298263856102972533572264495316841931325
Crime in 2021 Sl. No.CityMurder Culpable Homicide not amounting to Murder InfanticideFoeticideDowry DeathsAttempt to Commit MurderAttempt to Commit Culpable HomicideGrievous HurtKidnapping and AbductionRapeAttempt to Commit RapeRiotingRobberyDacoityArsonTotal Violent Crimes1Ahmedabad (Gujarat)97602012043211838304213082610222Bengaluru (Karnataka)15517002637191978111170110505363923933Chennai (Tamil Nadu)1616501304410471451100609201914504Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu)30010041010111212194282315Delhi City45459531367526503925475122666823152587116536Ghaziabad (Uttar Pradesh)2580018562382503278431143677Hyderabad (Telangana)98120015192511951311601181115912328Indore (Madhya Pradesh)541300179321006941651308173512929Jaipur (Rajasthan)11860034872266135022928135615160110Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh)48700322818511523506102038911Kochi (Kerala)107001235450137345433328912Kolkata (West Bengal)451600513563883461108620319108013Kozhikode (Kerala)52000115244213711666241141614Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh)101180051942626777397564122414163615Mumbai (Maharashtra)1626011234981219159036403038611635492616Nagpur (Maharashtra)956000119030841511511061901341140917Patna (Bihar)764002021903215493001898550149818Pune (Maharashtra)100110429922505719601973183821189819Surat (Gujarat)1215203741217427052017391011790Total Cities195519914637533678974403131213208561557574321445735572
Organized crime
Arms trafficking
According to a joint report published by Oxfam, Amnesty International and the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) in 2006, there are around 40 million illegal small arms in India out of approximately 75 million in worldwide circulation. Majority of the illegal small arms make its way into the states of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh. In UP, a used AK-47 costs $3,800 in black market. Large amount of illegal small arms are manufactured in various illegal arms factories in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar and sold on the black market for as little as $5.08.