Crimes Against Women Decline in Tamil Nadu Till July Compared to 2025

CHENNAI: The number of rape cases, including attempt to rape, had come down to 236 till July 2026, compared 387 in the same period in 2025, showing a declining trend in serious crimes against women in Tamil Nadu.

The Pocso rape cases registered till July 2025 was 7,407 and is has come down to 4,648 in the same period this year. It shows a big decline for the first time after 2022 when it started rising.

Pocso cases other than rape in 2025 were 2,406, while it has decreased by 25 per cent in the same period in 2026, as it stands at 1,843. The total number of Pocso cases till July 2025 was 9,813 and it is only 6,491 till July this year. The cases under Pocso rose from the year 2022 and it stood at 6,969 in 2024. In 2022, Pocso cases were 4,968 and in 2023, the number was 4,581.

Another category of serious crime against women, kidnapping and abduction, were only 71 till July this year, compared to 178 in the same period last year, showing a sharp decline of 60 per cent.

While 638 cases were filed in 2021 and 536 in 2022, only 290 cases were reported in 2023, which is a sharp fall in this category of crime in that year. Sexual harassment cases in 2023 was 53 and it was 58 in the previous year, showing slight decline.

The total number of cases of crimes against women, including rape, dowry death, cruelty by husband and his relatives and assault on a woman with intent to outrage her modesty was 3,559 in 2025 till July, while the number was only 2,867 in the same period till July this year, indicating that the number of cases against women has decreased substantially.

The year 2024 had registered 452 rape and attempt to rape cases and a showed a total of 3,217 cases of offences against women. But this could not be compared to 2026 as the data is not for the full year. In 2026, the data till July was compiled since a new government has taken over and a comparison with the previous year was required.

In dowry death cases, 11 complaints were recorded in 2025 till July, while it was only three in the same period in 2026. A total of 823 complaints on cruelty by husband and his relatives were reported in 2025, while there were only 526 this year till July. When it comes to assault on women with intention to outrage modesty, 2,338 cases were filed last year and it has reduced to 2,102 this year till July.

Chargesheeting in rape and attempted rape were high last year with 267 of 287 cases getting chargesheeted, while only 90 of the 236 rape cases had come to the chargesheet stage. In the total cases also, only 929 of the 2,867 crimes against women had been chargesheeted this year since 1,805 cases are under investigation, but 1,857 of the 3,559 cases were chargesheeted last year and only 1,526 were under investigation till July 2025.

In 2024, there were 452 rape or attempted rape cases which is a slight increase, compared to the previous two years - 2022 and 2023. Going by the trend till July, the number of rape cases in 2026 could come down drastically. The number of dowry deaths has come down to single digits from 2024 and cruelty by husband and his relatives has also decreased, showing a social change.

According to the police statistics, the number of rapes in the year 2022 was 442, while the number reduced to 406 in 2023. The number of rape and rape assault cases which have been chargesheeted has crossed 50 per cent in 2024 and 2025, indicating police action in such cases and it is said police action would pick up in the second-half of the year since a new government is in place and new police officials had taken over at several positions.

Of the 452 rape cases registered in 2024, the police have chargesheeted 240 persons, while 210 cases are under investigation. In the year 2023 also, the number of chargesheeted cases was 212 out of 406, while 172 cases were under investigation. The chargesheeted cases in 2022 was less than 50 per cent as chargesheets were filed in 183 of the 442 reported cases and 242 cases were under investigation.

Cases of cruelty by husband and his relatives, which was more than a thousand in the last two years, had decreased to 870 cases. Such cruelty cases were 1,043 in 2022 and 1,017 in 2023. The most striking change from 2024 is the steep decline in dowry death cases. A total of 27 dowry deaths were registered in 2021 and 29, in 2022, but this came down to just 11 in 2023 and this is less than 50 per cent in 2023.

When it comes to chargesheeting in cases of dowry death and cruelty by husband and his relatives, the rate is very low, indicating the interference of the family members and a tendency to save the family unity at the cost of taking the cases to their logical end. In 2026 till July, only 113 of the 526 complaints were chargesheeted and 343 are under investigation. In the same period in 2025, only 299 of the 823 cases were chargesheeted.

In husband cruelty cases in 2024, a total of 572 cases out of the 870 were still under investigation while chargesheets were filed only in 254 complaints, giving a rate of less than 30 per cent. In 2022, a total of 696 cases out of 1,043 were under investigation and 65 were disposed of, while only 282 cases ended in chargesheets. In 2023 also, 638 out of 1,017 were under investigation, while 334 were chargesheeted.

In 2022, only 13 out of the 29 dowry cases were chargesheeted in 2022 while only two of the seven cases went to the stage of chargesheeting in 2024, while 2023 was an exception with seven chargesheets out of the 11 cases. In 2026, till July, none of the three dowry death cases have been chargesheeted as investigation is on in all the cases.