Opinion Express View on latest NCRB data: The crime story
It does well to frame vulnerabilities of the marginalised. Agency must not be aloof to conversations on the need for robust data for effective policing
The growing incidents of cybercrime — the NCRB report underlines the seriousness of this threat — call for law enforcers to stay ahead of the curve. Across the world, data is becoming an important tool for ensuring public safety. 
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The latest edition of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report reveals disturbing trends. The recorded crimes against women, children, senior citizens, Scheduled Castes, and Scheduled Tribes show a steep increase, 468 people took their lives everyday in 2022 and cyber crimes went up by nearly 25 per cent.
The NCRB does not claim that these figures represent an accurate count of criminal offences across the country. The agency has underlined that its data record the incidence of registered crime, not the actual numbers. The report should, therefore, be read to understand the big picture in terms of crime registration.
Even then, the data is a valuable aid for policymakers and law enforcement agencies. They should not overlook that almost every NCRB compilation has framed the vulnerabilities of women and marginalised sections. The agency’s latest round-up of crime makes a case for also prioritising the anxieties of senior citizens and making homes, educational institutions and public spaces safe for children.
The NCRB has flagged a caveat: An increase in crime numbers in state or city-level police data — in Delhi, for instance — could be on account of greater awareness, increased presence of law enforcement agencies or citizen-centric initiatives. But policymakers also need to be alert to under-reporting. As the NCRB points out, the perpetrators of violence are often acquaintances of those at the receiving end. Women, for example, find it very difficult to report abusers in their close circles — husbands, fathers, partners, family members, friends.
For the same reason, the true extent of violence against children is likely to be greater than that estimated by the bureau. An earlier NCRB report, in fact, acknowledged that it did not “capture the socio-economic causative factors”.
The agency’s data can, no doubt, be read along with studies that shine a light on the structural impediments faced by the underprivileged — for instance, NFHS reports or recent studies that show that women find it difficult to register FIRs. There is also a growing body of scholarship which shows that people from marginalised social groups are often pressured into not reporting crimes against them. The NCRB must sharpen its methodologies and make its reports more nuanced.
The growing incidents of cybercrime — the NCRB report underlines the seriousness of this threat — call for law enforcers to stay ahead of the curve. Across the world, data is becoming an important tool for ensuring public safety.
The NCRB cannot be impervious to conversations on the use of digital systems for crime prevention and investigation. It must step up to new challenges, and find ways to effectively address old ones.
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