Alarming rise in cybercrimes, says NCRB

A total of 12 States and union Territories, including Telangana, have recorded crime rates higher than the national average of 66.4 per cent

Hyderabad: A total of 12 States and union Territories, including Telangana, have recorded crime rates higher than the national average of 66.4 per cent, as per the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report.

Of these, while Delhi topped the list at (144.4 per cent), it was followed by Haryana (118.7) and Telangana (117 per cent), Rajasthan (115.1), Odisha (103), Andhra Pradesh (96.2), Andaman and Nicobar Islands (93.7), Kerala (82), Assam (81), Madhya Pradesh (78.8), Uttarakhand (77), Maharashtra (75.1) and West Bengal (71.8).

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In a note of caution about the annual report, the NCRB said that the primary presumption that the upward swing in police data indicates an increase in crime and thus a reflection of the ineffectiveness of the police is fallacious.

“’Rise in crime’ and ‘increase in registration of crime by police’ are clearly two different things, a fact which requires better understanding. Thus, an oft-repeated expectation from certain quarters that an effective police administration will be able to keep the crime figures low is misplaced,” it stated.

“Increase in crime numbers in a State police data may in fact be on account of certain citizen-centric police initiatives, like launching of e-FIR facility or women helpdesks,” it said.

The increase or decrease in crime numbers, however, does call for a professional investigation of underlying factors pertaining to the local communities to suitably address the pertinent issues,” it added.

Spike in cybercrimes marks 2022 in State

Telangana during the year 2022 reported 15,297 cases of cybercrime incidents, which is the highest in the country. The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), which released its comprehensive data for 2022, threw light on the surge in cybercrimes across the country, particularly Telangana which was leading in cybercrimes.

The alarming increase in cybercrimes across the country highlights the pressing need for enhanced cybersecurity measures and public awareness, the NCRB report said.

While Telangana reported the highest number of cybercrime cases in 2022, it was followed by Karnataka with 12,556 cases and Uttar Pradesh with 10,117 cases.

Among metropolitan cities in the country, Bengaluru topped the list by reporting 9,940 cybercrime cases, followed by Mumbai with 4,724 and Hyderabad with 4,436 cases.

According to the report, a total of 65,893 cybercrime cases were registered in 2022 across the country, marking a substantial 24.4 per cent increase from the previous year’s 52,974 cases. The crime rate in this category rose from 3.9 in 2021 to 4.8 in 2022.

Delving deeper into the cybercrime statistics, a staggering 64.8 per cent of the cases were motivated by fraud, accounting for 42,710 instances. Extortion followed at 5.5 per cent (3,648 cases), and sexual exploitation constituted 5.2 per cent (3,434 cases).