Among metro cities, Delhi reported highest number of rape cases in 2023; also topped in terms of crimes by juveniles

Police officers attributed the figure to “zero-tolerance policy” towards crime against women owing to “prompt and fair registration of FIRs”

By: Express News Service

New Delhi | September 30, 2025 12:38 AM IST

2 min read

The rate of crime against women in Delhi stood at 176.4 per lakh population in 2023. In terms of cruelty by husband, the Capital topped the charts with 4,219 cases (Representative image)

In 2023, Delhi reported 1,088 rape cases – the highest figure among 19 metropolitan cities in India even as the rate, at 14.4%, was below Indore and Jaipur, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report released on Monday.

Overall, crime against women saw a decline of 5.59% in 2023 in comparison to 2022 with 13,366 cases being reported as against 14,158 in 2022.

In terms of crimes committed by juveniles, Delhi, once again, trounced other metropolitan cities in 2023 with 2,278 such cases being reported.

Though the number has gone down from 2,618 in 2021 and 2,338 in 2022, the figure lays bare stark differences between Delhi and other cities in such cases: While Chennai saw only 523 cases of juveniles being in conflict with the law, Bengaluru recorded 427 instances and Ahmedabad 417.

The rate of crime against women in Delhi stood at 176.4 per lakh population in 2023. In terms of cruelty by husband, the Capital topped the charts with 4,219 cases.

With 4,067 women kidnapped and abducted in 2023, the rate stood at 52.2%, second only to Patna (71.3%). At six, cases of acid attacks were the highest among the metropolitan cities.

Police officers attributed the figure to “zero-tolerance policy” towards crime against women owing to “prompt and fair registration of FIRs”.

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In terms of instances of crime against children, Delhi stood on top among all metropolitan cities with 1,755 cases registered under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act in 2023.

At 269, the number of child labour victims, too, was the highest.

According to NCRB data, Delhi’s juveniles preferred committing theft (903 cases), voluntarily causing hurt (298 cases) and robbery (210 cases) over other crimes.

According to the report, of the 3,098 juveniles apprehended in 2023, 1,649 were sent back home after a warning, 895 were sent to special homes, 26 were fined and only one was imprisoned.

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A large section of the juveniles (2,640) lived with their parents while only 124 of them were homeless.

The report cited a 94.6% rate of juveniles being held guilty by the courts.

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