Among states, Uttar Pradesh has the greatest share of crimes against women as per crime data for 2017 released by the National Crime Records Bureau.
Uttar Pradesh accounted for 15.6 per cent of all the crimes against women reported in the country under the Indian Penal Code as well as those reported under special laws. This translates into a crime rate of 53.2 per cent (number of crimes reported/population). Of the 3.4 lakh crimes against women reported in the country, 56,000 came from Uttar Pradesh. This is 6,749 cases more than the number reported in 2016, and 20,103 more than those reported in 2015.
Overall, in the country, cruelty by husband or relatives is the most reported crime against women, followed by assault on woman with intent to outrage her modesty, kidnapping and abduction and rape. In Uttar Pradesh, kidnapping and abduction are the most reported, followed by assault on woman with intent to outrage her modesty, cruelty by husband/relatives and kidnapping and abduction to compel for marriage.
Metropolitan cities—those with population of above 2 million—reported 7.29 lakh crimes.
On this list, the state’s capital, Lucknow, comes in only behind Patna in reporting dowry deaths. Kanpur is the other metropolitan city that reported the same percentage of dowry deaths. On the metropolitan city count, Lucknow is only second (behind Delhi) in number of assaults with intent to outrage modesty of women. The city accounted for most number of assaults on women, though it reported no cases of sexual harassment at work or office premises. On the crime of voyeurism, Lucknow stood only second to Kozhikode in Kerala.
Of the four metros that reported the most cases for kidnapping and abduction with intent to force for marriage, three (Kanpur, Ghaziabad and Lucknow) are in Uttar Pradesh. Patna reported the most number of such crimes.
Uttar Pradesh's positioning on the NCRB list has been attacked by the opposition. Siddharth Nath Singh, the state government’s spokesperson, said that the opposition parties were criticising the government without understanding the methodology on which the numbers were based. “States with bigger populations have proportionately more crimes and more cases are registered,” said a note issued by Singh on Tuesday evening. It is to be noted that 13 states have a higher rates of crime against women than Uttar Pradesh.
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav had tweeted that the report shed light on the “false claims” of the BJP government in the state.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Congress general secretary, had also taken a dig at the state government, tweeting that those who roamed the state chanting “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao” should be ashamed.
