THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala had the least number of murders in the country during 2018-20 as it accounted for 921 such cases with a murder crime rate, calculated per one lakh population, of 0.9 as compared to the national rate of 2.20.
The ‘Crime in India’ report released by the National Crime Records Bureau, which comes under the Ministry of Home Affairs, revealed there was a marginal decrease in the number of murder cases in 2020 from 2019. The number of murder cases from 2018 to 2020 was 292, 323 and 306, respectively. The main motive behind murders in 2020 was disputes (179). As per the crime rate, Chhattisgarh and Assam topped the list, while Uttar Pradesh had the highest number of murder cases — 11,603.
Crimes against women, kids
As many as 32,000 cases were registered for crimes against women in the state from 2018 to 2020. There were 637 cases of rape in 2020. Of these, 248 cases were rape other than custodial, while 147 were repeated rape of women. One case of rape and murder, six cases of dowry deaths and 34 cases of abetment to suicide were registered in the state in 2020.
From 2018 to 2020, as many as 12,948 cases were registered for crimes against children. There were 66 cases of trafficking of children and 620 cases of assaulting children with the intent to outrage their modesty. There were 2,163 Pocso cases registered in the state with a crime rate of 23, which is the highest among the medium and large-sized states.
Protests behind most rioting cases
Kerala came fifth in cases for rioting and third for unlawful assembly, termed as offences against public tranquillity, in 2020. The state recorded 6,534 cases of such offences. However, none of these were communal/religious/sectarian in nature. The state also did not have any such case connected to caste conflicts, industrial disputes or agrarian struggle. At the heart of the most of the issues was politics as agitation (protests) contributed 1,798 cases, while gatherings of political nature contributed 628 cases.
Third in drugs
Up to 4,968 NDPS cases were registered in 2020 at a rate of 14 per one lakh population. This is the third highest figure after Punjab and Himachal Pradesh. About 4,582 cases were registered for personal consumption.
Second in charge-sheeting
Kerala has the second highest rate of chargesheeting in cases under the IPC. The state with 94.9% of chargesheeting closely followed Gujarat with 97.1%.
Gujarat 97.1%
KERALA 94.9%
Tamil Nadu 91.7%