Moa Jamir
Dimapur | May 6
Nagaland officially recorded one of the lowest numbers of ‘Offences against Woman and Child,’ in 2024, according to the latest Crime in India 2024 report released by the National Crime Records Bureau on Wednesday.
As per the report, Nagaland registered a total of 36 cases under the category, the lowest among the States in India after Sikkim, which recorded 30 cases.
The 36 cases in Nagaland included 12 registered under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and 24 under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
Among the Union Territories, Lakshadweep recorded the lowest at 8 cases, followed by 25 in Ladakh and 24 in Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.
Across India, a total of 2,84,530 cases of offences against women and children were registered in 2024, accounting for 8.0% of total IPC and BNS crimes during the year.
Crime heads
According to the NCRB data, among the 36 cases registered in Nagaland under ‘Offences against Woman and Child,’ the highest number was under ‘Rape’ (Section 64 to Section 71 of BNS/Section 376 IPC).
This was followed by 9 cases of ‘Assault or use of Criminal Force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty’ (Section 74 BNS/Section 354 IPC).
Cases of ‘Cruelty by Husband or Relatives’ (Section 85 BNS/Section 498-A IPC) and ‘Sexual Harassment’ (Section 75 BNS/Section 354A IPC) accounted for 4 cases each. There were also 3 cases of ‘Assault or Use of Criminal Force to woman with intent to disrobe’ (Section 76 BNS/Section 354B IPC).
The State also recorded one case each of ‘Attempt to Commit Rape’ and ‘Kidnapping or abducting child with intent to steal from its person.’
At the national level, ‘Cruelty by Husband or his Relatives’ accounted for the highest number of cases at 1,20,227, constituting 42.3% of such offences. This was followed by ‘Assault on Women with Intent to Outrage her Modesty’ with 48,303 cases (17.0%) and ‘Rape’ with 29,536 cases (10.4%).
It may be noted that under NCRB classification, the category ‘Offences against Women and Child’ does not include cases registered under Special and Local Laws (SLL). The overall status of such offences is reported separately under the dedicated categories ‘Crimes against Women’ and ‘Crimes against Children.’
The NCRB compiles crime data based on information provided by States and Union Territories.
Overall crimes decline
Meanwhile, after rising from 1,592 cases in 2022 to 1,899 in 2023, the total number of crimes in Nagaland declined to 1,392 in 2024.
This marked a decline of 507 cases in absolute terms, or around 26.7%.
Of the 1,392 crimes registered in the State, 802 were under IPC/BNS, while Nagaland recorded the lowest crime rate among States and Union Territories at 35.5 per lakh population, based on a mid-year projected population of 22.6 lakh in 2024.
Crimes registered under SLL stood at 590, with a crime rate of 26.1.
Overall, the rate of cognisable crimes in Nagaland stood at 61.6, the second lowest in India after Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, which recorded 42.7.
Across India, a total of 58.85 lakh crimes were registered in 2024, a decline of 6% from 62.41 lakh cases in 2023. The rate of cognisable crimes was 418.9.
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