HYDERABAD: The National Crime Records Bureau (NRCB) data for 2020 revealed that though Telangana witnessed a dip in crime against women, the State still topped the list among southern States by recording the highest number of atrocities against women. In fact, in the overall list, Telangana is among the top 10 States with the highest number of crimes against women.
In the meantime, experts attributed the dip in crime rate against women, in both Telangana and across the country, to the pandemic situation and the back-to-back lockdowns enforced since March 25, 2020. However, despite the decline in the crime rate, the State still recorded the maximum number of crimes against women in the southern part of the country.
While Telangana reported a total of 17,791 crimes against women in 2020, Andhra Pradesh saw 17,089 cases, Karnataka 12,680, Kerala 10,139, and Tamil Nadu 6,630, the data revealed. Of all the criminal cases, 7,745 were of domestic violence (cruelty by husband or his relatives that falls under Section 498 A of IPC). This is also the highest among all southern States. While AP saw 6,579 cases, Karnataka (2,092), Tamil Nadu (702), and Kerala (2,736) recorded lesser cases. Hyderabad alone reported 2,390 cases of crime against women in 2020.
SC/ST cases see a surge
A total of 50,291 cases were registered across the country in 2020 for crimes against Scheduled Castes (SCs), showing an increase of 9.4 per cent as against the figures of 2019 (45,961 cases). In Telangana, there has been a 15.92 per cent increase in crimes against SCs. This is the highest in the last few years. While the number of cases was 1,507 in 2018, it climbed to 1,690 in 2019, which further increased to 1,959 in 2020. The trend was the same for atrocities against STs. While Telangana reported 419 cases in 2018, it became 530 in 2019 and further increased to 573 in 2020.
Kids also suffer
Though the lockdown was in force during this period, as a result of which most children had to stay at their homes, crimes against children did not see any significant decrease in 2020, highlights the NCRB data. In 2020, Telangana recorded 4,200 cases of crimes against children. Compared to 2019 (4,212 cases), the dip was very meagre. In Hyderabad, 467 such cases were reported in 2020. While in 2019 it was 506.
Cases dipped due to Covid
Experts attributed the dip in crime rate against women, in both Telangana and across the country, to the pandemic situation and the back-to-back lockdowns enforced since March, 2020.