Annual Crime Rate Rises By 28% Since Pandemic Began: Report

The 2020 crime statistics by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) mention that the overall cognizable crime rate rose by 28 per cent in the year of COVID, from 5.5 million to 6.60 million. The crimes under the Indian Penal Code rose by 31.9 per cent, whereas the crimes under the Special and Local Laws (SLL) by 21.6 per cent.

The body has been collating data since 2002, and the spike in the pandemic times has been the highest so far. On the other hand, if COVID-19 causes are eliminated, the rate has declined, backing the old evidence of reduced crime rates during the pandemic.

Rise In Disobedience Cases

COVID-19 related violations are covered under three sub-headings in the crime in India report: 'Disobedience order duly promulgated by Public Servant', 'other IPC crimes' under the IPC and 'other SLL crimes' under SLL crimes. The report saw a 21-time increase in the disobedience crimes, from 29,469 in 2019 to 612,179 in 2020.

Other crimes under IPC increased four times from 0.25 million to 1.06 million, and crimes under special local laws increased from 0.08 million to 0.34 million annually. Apart from the previously mentioned categories, the crime rate decreased from 4.79 million in 2019 to 4.59 million in 2020. Hindustan Times reported that the offences related to property and document registration saw the most significant decrease of 25 per cent and 11 per cent.

Almost 5% Rise In Pendency of Cases

Crimes by hurting, which accounts for half of the body crimes, account for a 6 per cent increase. Murder cases across the country grew by 1 per cent. Moreover, due to the pandemic and shutdown of the courts, the number of pending cases in the courts also rose. The pendency rate rose from 88.3 per cent to 93.8 per cent in 2020. Furthermore, the rate of filing the charge sheet by the police was the highest from 2015, at 75.8 per cent.

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