From 40 A Day To Nearly 500: Crimes Against Children In India Surge 12-Fold In Two Decades

Cases of crime against children in India have risen from 14,423 in 2004 to 1.77 lakh in 2023, witnessing a 12-fold jump in two decades. In terms of average cases reported per day, the increase has been from 40 to almost 500, analysis of official data by News18 shows.

The data from National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) between 2004 and 2023 shows a steady long-term rise in reported crimes against children. There was only a brief dip in 2020 before numbers climbed again, the analysis of the official data shows.

Post-Covid-19, between 2020 and 2023, the cases of crimes against children jumped by almost 40 per cent, with an average addition of nearly 135 cases every day by 2023, the latest available report reveals.

It was only after 2001 that NCRB started

compiling crimes against children separately. The number of cases of crime against children has seen a steady growth over the years—from 14,423 cases in 2004 to crossing the 20,000-mark by 2007 (20,410 cases) and 50,000-mark by 2013 (58,224). Finally, in 2016, the cases crossed the one lakh-mark (1.06 lakh) and by 2022, the cases cross the 1.50 lakh-mark (1.62 lakh).

Over Half Cases Come From Just 6 States

A detailed analysis of the data between 2014 and 2023 shows that over half of the cases were reported collectively from just six states—Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Assam, and Bihar.

During the 10-year period, the top rank kept rotating between Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.

Between 2014 and 2023, Madhya Pradesh reported the highest number of cases of crime against children at 1.77 lakh. Uttar Pradesh followed at 1.70 lakh cases and Maharashtra reported 1.66 lakh cases. West Bengal (67,287), Rajasthan (63,498) and Bihar (61,663) ranked next.

Madhya Pradesh (22,393) was the top ranker even in 2023, closely followed by Maharashtra (22,390). Uttar Pradesh (18,852), Rajasthan (10,577), Assam (10,174) and Bihar (9,906).

However, even though they remain on lower ranks, Assam and Bihar have been showing an alarming trend. At India level, the cases of crime against children have doubled between 2014 and 2023—from 89,423 to 1,77,335. However, Assam has seen the most drastic jump of over seven times between 2014 and 2023—from just 1,385 cases of crime against children in 2014 to 10,174 by 2023, the data shows. Assam has reported 49,352 cases of crime against children over the decade.

Bihar has seen close to five times jump in cases of crime against children—from 2,255 to 9,906. The state reported 61,663 cases of crime against children between 2014 and 2023. Witnessing about a four-fold jump in such cases, Odisha—from 2,196 to 8,577—was next in the list. Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and Maharashtra have recorded nearly three-fold rise, as shown in the graph.

Slow Justice

But rising cases are only half the story—the system’s response tells another. For thousands of children, justice delayed is justice denied—and the backlog keeps growing. The pending trial cases across India in crime against children have almost doubled between 2018 and 2023.

At the end of 2018, there were 3.06 lakh cases pending for trials. At the end of 2019, there were 3.46 lakh cases pending for trials—a pendency percentage of 90 per cent in 2019. By 2023, courts across India had 6.54 lakh cases of crime against children for trial, including 5.41 lakh carried forward from previous years. A total of 5.90 lakh cases remained pending for trials at the end of 2023, leaving a pendency rate at 90 per cent.

The pendency percentage is the share of cases that remain unresolved at the end of a year out of the total cases handled by courts during that year.

Conviction rate is the percentage of cases decided by courts in which the accused is found guilty during a given year. It is calculated by dividing the number of cases ending in conviction by total cases decided by courts.

In 2019, convictions were done in 12,288 cases—with a conviction rate of 35 per cent. During 2023, a total of 16,365 convictions were made. The conviction rate in case of crime against children was 29 per cent in 2023.

At police level, in 2019, a total of 2.20 lakh cases were presented for investigation, with 88,152 reaching the chargesheet stage, adding to the total 1.38 lakh disposed of cases. The chargesheet rate was 64 per cent while pendency remained at 38 per cent in 2019. A total of 81,976 cases remained at the investigation stage at the end of 2019.

In 2023, 2.57 lakh cases were kept for investigation, including 80,198 cases from the previous year. In only 1.12 lakh cases, the chargesheet was submitted—charge sheeting rate at 65 percent. A total of 82,930 cases remained pending for investigation at the end of 2023, leaving a pendency rate at 33 percent. Out of the total cases, 10,130 were found to be true but there was a lack of evidence or no clue. Another 28,829 cases ended as facts were mistaken or there was a law or civil dispute.

The numbers suggest that the challenge is not only the rising numbers of cases of crime against children but high pendency and low conviction rates also point to a justice system struggling to keep pace with the growing volume of cases.