From crimes against children, women to senior citizens, Delhi once again proved to be worst in terms of public safety across major cities and Union Territories in India. As per the crime statistic released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB)
on Wednesday for the year 2024, Delhi saw a 15% drop in criminal cases compared to the previous years, but the number was highest across 19 major cities.According to the data, Delhi recorded 2,75,402 criminal cases in 2024, while Mumbai was a much distant second at 51,428 cases.
The national capital recorded 13,396 cases of crimes against women, 1,267 cases of crimes against senior citizens and 7,662 cases of crimes against children. As per the NCRB data, Delhi also emerged as the ‘theft capital’
of India, with almost 497 cases per day.
A senior Delhi Police officer quoted by The Indian Express claims that Delhi shows a higher rate of crime against women because of the swift registration of the cases. “There also have been multiple fake cases of rape, which were later found to be lodged for the purpose of blackmail,” he added as per the report, further stating that even in pendency of trial, these cases are counted in official statistics.
Here’s a look at Delhi’s detailed crime map for 2024 based on the latest NCRB report.
Crimes Against Women In Delhi
While Delhi reported the highest number of crimes against women across 19 major cities, it stood fourth across India in terms of the rate of such crimes.
The city recorded 13,396 cases of crimes against women in 2024, a 0.22% increase from 2023 when 13,366 such cases were reported. In 2022, that figure stood at 14,158.
The rate of crime against women in Delhi, meanwhile, remained fourth highest among the cities in 2024, after Jaipur, Indore and Lucknow. The overall crime rate — number of crimes against women per one lakh women — for 2024 was recorded at 176.8.
Crimes like rape and dowry remained a major concern in 2024, with 1,058 cases registered for rape. The total number of dowry deaths remained at 109, according to the NCRB report.
In 2024, one acid attack case was reported in Delhi, as compared to six such cases in 2023. Kidnapping and abduction of women also remained a major concern as well, with 3,974 cases being registered in Delhi in 2024 — highest across 19 metropolitan cities.
Crimes Against Children In Delhi
Delhi recorded 7,662 cases of crimes against children in 2024, marginally lower than the 7,769 cases registered in 2023, but its crime rate against children remains the highest across India. The capital recorded 138.4 cases per lakh child population in 2024, significantly above the national average of 42.3.
Among Union Territories, Delhi accounted for the highest number of crimes against children, followed by Jammu and Kashmir with 887 cases and Chandigarh with 255 cases.
Nationwide, a total of 1,87,702 cases of crimes against children were registered in 2024, compared to 1,77,335 in 2023 and 1,62,449 in 2022, reflecting a steady rise over the past three years.
Maharashtra recorded the highest number of such cases among states at 24,171, followed by Uttar Pradesh at 22,222 and Madhya Pradesh at 21,908.
Crimes Against Senior Citizens In Delhi
The number of crimes against senior citizens was the highest in Delhi among all the Union territories and metro cities in 2024. As per the NCRB report, a total of 1,267 crimes against senior citizens were registered that year in the national capital, a slight dip from the previous year when 1,361 such cases were reported.
Across India, crimes against senior citizens saw 16.9% rise from 27,886 cases in 2023 to 32,602 cases in 2024.
Delhi registered a rate of 110 cases per lakh population in 2024 when it comes to crimes against senior citizens — one of the highest among the UTs. Among the states, Madhya Pradesh topped the list in this category with 5,875 cases registered in 2024, an increase from 5,738 in 2023.
Murder Cases in Delhi
Delhi did record a marginal decline in murder cases in 2024, with 504 incidents reported during the year as against 506 in 2023, but its murder rate stood at 2.3 per lakh population, higher than the national average of 1.9.
Among Union Territories, Delhi recorded the highest number of murder cases in absolute terms. Chandigarh reported 22 murder cases, while Jammu and Kashmir registered 90 cases during the same period.
At the national level, a total of 27,049 murder cases were registered in 2024, compared to 27,721 in 2023 and 28,522 in 2022.
Theft Capital Of India
Delhi also dominated the theft statistics for 2024. The city-state reported a staggering 1,80,973 theft cases in 2024, resulting in almost 3,480 cases per week, and roughly 497 cases per day, which is 73.3% of the national total.
As per the data, out of 2,80,867 cases registered under ‘offences against property’ in 2024 across India, theft was the most common offence with 2,46,882 cases, making up 87.9% of all property-related crime cases.
Next came Mumbai with 10,854 cases (4.4% of total cases), Bengaluru with 9,229 cases (3.7%) and Jaipur with 9,051 cases (3.7%).
According to the data, across the spectrum of IPC and BNS crimes (5,93,096 cases), theft emerged as the single largest crime category, accounting for 41.6% of all registered cases.
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