NCRB Report: Violent Crime and Stalking Cases Rise in Hyderabad
Increase in incidents of violent crime, a trend that was reflected at both the state and in Hyderabad
Hyderabad: They are not quite the crime capitals of the country, but the rise in crime rates, both overall in Telangana and in Hyderabad, between 2021 and 2023, points to some disturbing trends, as per the latest Crime in India 2023 report from the National Crime Records Bureau.
Though marginal, one of the findings in the report was an increase in incidents of violent crime, a trend that was reflected at both the state and in Hyderabad. Telangana, according to the report, had 9,844 incidents of violent crime in 2021, a figure that rose to 9,673 in 2022 and then to 10,069 in 2023. For Hyderabad, the number of these cases was 1,232, 1,364,and 1,483, respectively, for the same years.
During the same three-year period, overall crime, including cases under the then-IPC, and what are referred to as SLL crimes — cases that do not fall under the IPC but are registered under local or special laws – rose from 1,58,809 in 2021 to 1,65,830 in 2022 and to 1,83,644 in 2023. Of these, cases falling under various IPC provisions were 1,46,131, 1,51,849, and 1,56,737 for 2021, 2022, and 2023, indicating a fair jump in 2023 in SLL cases.
Given the state’s 381.35 lakh population as per the NCRB report for 2023, and that of Hyderabad at 77.49 lakh for the same year, the number of cases may not seem much. But when drilled down, the data shows that the state recorded 16 cases an hour during 2021, which rose to 17 an hour in 2023. As far as Hyderabad is concerned, during these three years, the number of IPC cases was 17,951, 20,668 and 21,774, translating into two cases an hour in
2021, the number rose to 2.4 cases (or 24 cases in 10 hours) in 2023.
Though there is a steady, if slow rise in crime in Hyderabad and Telangana, the NCRB report makes it clear that while numbers may indicate that there is an increase in crime, the very same rise in numbers “may in fact be on account of certain citizen-centric police initiatives, like launching e-FIR facilities or women's help desks.”
The NCRB also made it clear that the increase or decrease in crime numbers calls for a more “professional investigation of underlying factors pertaining to the local communities to suitably address the pertinent issues.”
This observation of the NCRB appears to be a call for action for the Telangana police with the report saying that Hyderabad, in 2023, reported the second highest number of cases of stalking at 416, next only to Mumbai — with a vastly higher population — which had 506 such cases. Similarly, Telangana stood eighth in the country with 3,154 cases related to the Protection of Children for Sexual Offences Act, while the state topped the country with respect to cases related to the Mental Health Act 1987. Telangana, according to the NCRB report, has 254 such cases, the highest in the country with the rest of four states – Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, and Puducherry – to have such cases between them had just 70 such cases.
Crime in Telangana
Year – Total – Per day IPC cases
2021 – 1,58,809 – 1,46,131 - 400
2022 – 1,65,830 – 1,65,830 - 416
2023 – 1,83,644 – 183644 - 429
IPC crimes in Hyderabad
Year – Total – Per day IPC cases
2021 – 17,951 - 49
2022 – 20,668 - 56
2023 – 21,774 - 59
Violent crimes
Year – Telangana – Hyderabad
2021 – 9,844 – 1,232
2022 – 9,673 – 1,364
2023 – 10,069 – 1,483
Burglaries at night in Hyderabad
Total cases – 383 in 2023
Day cases – 71
Night cases – 312
