Crime in India
[2] According to the UN, the homicide rate was 2.95 per 100,000 in 2020 with 40,651 recorded, down from a peak of 5.46 per 100,000 in 1992 and essentially unchanged since 2017, higher than most countries in Asia and Europe and lower than most in the Americas and Africa although numerically one of the highest due to the large population.
Maharashtra, after topping the list over the previous 4-years, Kerala dropped to the third-position in absolute numbers, accounting for 10.1% of all crimes.
The violent crime rate (per 100,000 population) was highest in Assam (86.4), Tripura (62), Haryana (49.4), West Bengal (46.1) and Arunachal Pradesh (41.7).
However, in terms of absolute number of cases, Uttar Pradesh reported the highest incidence of violent crimes accounting for 15.2% of total violent crimes in India (65,155 out of 428,134) followed by Maharashtra (10.7%), and Bihar and West Bengal each accounting for 10.4% of such cases.
After Kolkata, Pune (256.8) and Hyderabad (259.9) had the lowest crime rates (per 1 lakh urban population) among the 19-cities with more than two million inhabitants in India.
Crime in the capital city has incrementally expanded over the previous years and jumped from 2018 when the rime rate was 1385.1.
[27][28][29] Most dowry deaths occur when the young woman, unable to bear the harassment and torture, commits suicide.
[43] The most commonly used drug in Mumbai is Indian heroin (called desi mal by the local population).
A survey conducted in 2003–2004 by Narcotics Control Bureau found that India has at least four million drug addicts.
[48] In an annual government report in 2007, the United States named India among 20 major hubs for trafficking of illegal drugs along with Pakistan, Afghanistan and Burma.
[51] According to a joint report published by Oxfam, Amnesty International and the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) in 2006, there are around 40 million illegal small arms in India out of approximately 75 million in worldwide circulation.
[52] Chinese pistols are in demand in the illegal small arms market in India because they are easily available and cheaper.
[52] The porous Indo-Nepal border is an entry point for Chinese pistols, AK-47 and M-16 rifles into India as these arms are used by the Naxalites who have ties to Maoists in Nepal.
[52] In North-East India, there is a huge influx of small arms due to the insurgent groups operating there.
[54] The small arms in North-East India come from insurgent groups in Burma, black markets in Southeast Asia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka, black market in Cambodia, the People's Republic of China, insurgent groups like the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the Communist Party of India (Maoist), the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre), Indian states like Uttar Pradesh and pilferages from legal gun factories, criminal organisations operating in India and South Asian countries and other international markets like Romania, Germany etc.
[57][58] According to a report published by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) in 2004, India is the chief target for the traders of wildlife skin.
[59] Leopards, rhinoceros, reptiles, birds, insects, rare species of plants are being smuggled into the countries in Southeast Asia and the People's Republic of China.
[59] Kathmandu is a key staging point for illegal skins smuggled from India bound for Tibet and PRC.
[59] The poaching of elephants is a significant problem in Southern India[60] and in the North-Eastern states of Nagaland and Mizoram.
[63][64] Following is a comparison of reported cases of tiger and leopard poaching from 1998 to 2003: Samir Sinha, head of TRAFFIC India, the wildlife trade monitoring arm of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the World Conservation Union (IUCN), told Reuters in an interview "The situation regarding the illegal trade in wildlife parts in India is very grim.
[66] But according to critics like conservationist Billy Arjan Singh, temporary increases in tiger population were caused by immigration due to destruction of habitat in Nepal, not because of the widely acclaimed success of wildlife policy in India.
[66] The Information Technology Act 2000 was passed by the Parliament of India in May 2000, aiming to curb cyber crimes and provide a legal framework for e-commerce transactions.
[67] However Pavan Duggal, lawyer of Supreme Court of India and cyber law expert, viewed "The IT Act, 2000, is primarily meant to be a legislation to promote e-commerce.
Although cyber crime cells have been set up in major cities, Duggal noted the problem is that most cases remain unreported due to a lack of awareness.
[68] In 2001, India and United States had set up an India-US cyber security forum as part of a counter-terrorism dialogue.
The breached data included vaccination records, personally identifiable information, like name, address, email, contact number, and gender, and log in details of hospitals.
In India, corruption takes the form of bribes, evasion of tax and exchange controls, embezzlement, etc.
The main objectives of this set of directives was twofold, providing tenure to and streamlining the appointment/transfer processes of policemen, and increasing the accountability of the police.
[83] Scammers usually target younger foreign tourists and suggest to them that money can be made by privately transporting gems or gold, or by taking delivery abroad of expensive carpets, avoiding customs duties.
There are also other reasons such as unemployment, poverty, a lower per capita income which can affect the crime rates in India.
