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Crime data and trends

What the National Crime Records Bureau and the prison statistics count, and the trends in crime they show.

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See all: Prelims · Mains 1 · Mains 2

Crime in India 2024: cybercrime up, conventional crime down

Copy link to Crime in India 2024: cybercrime up, conventional crime down

StandardPrelims and Mains30 Jun 2026

What it is

  • Crime in India is the annual compilation of crime registered by the police, published by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) under the Ministry of Home Affairs. It counts First Information Reports, not convictions, so a rise can reflect better reporting as much as more crime.
  • The 2024 report, released in the first week of May 2026, is the first to cover a year in which the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita replaced the Indian Penal Code (from 1 July 2024), so its tables carry offences under both codes.

What it found

Head20232024Change
Total cognisable crimes62.41 lakh58.85 lakhdown 6 per cent
Cybercrime cases86,4201,01,928up 17.9 per cent
Crimes against women4.48 lakh4.41 lakhdown 1.5 per cent
Murders27,72127,049down 2.4 per cent
Crimes against senior citizens27,88632,602up 16.9 per cent
  • Cybercrime crossed one lakh cases, and the cybercrime rate rose from 6.2 to 7.3 per lakh people; fraud was the motive in 72.6 per cent of cases, with Telangana, Karnataka and Maharashtra among the States reporting most.
  • Economic offences rose 4.6 per cent to 2.14 lakh cases, most of them forgery, cheating and fraud.
  • The rise in crimes against the elderly is tied by officials to online financial fraud, including digital arrest scams.

Why it matters

  • The pattern is the one a Mains answer can use: conventional crimes are falling while crimes that travel through phones and bank accounts are rising fastest, and they are the ones local police are least equipped to investigate.
  • Crimes against women fell slightly on the count, but the count measures reporting; it is the starting figure for any argument about the new criminal laws, not a verdict on safety.
  • Year on year comparisons across the code change need care, since 2024 mixes IPC and BNS sections.

Exam lens

  • Prelims: the NCRB is under the Home Ministry; cybercrime 1,01,928 cases in 2024, up 17.9 per cent, fraud the main motive; total crime down 6 per cent; the BNS in force from 1 July 2024.
  • Mains: why cybercrime rises while conventional crime falls, and what policing must change to meet it.

Asked before: Mains 2020 GS3 · Mains 2022 GS3

Show the questions
  1. Mains 2020 GS3: Discuss different types of cybercrimes and measures required to be taken to fight the menace.
  2. Mains 2022 GS3: What are the different elements of cyber security? Keeping in view the challenges in cyber security, examine the extent to which India has successfully developed a comprehensive National Cyber Security Strategy.

Connects to

Sources
  • ETV Bharat, 7 May 2026, “NCRB Report Shows Sharp Rise In Cybercrime Despite Overall Decline In Crimes”

Settled facts (dates of Acts, constitutional provisions, standing definitions) are from standard references.