Shillong, Oct 2:Nationally, instances of cyber crime increased 31.2 per cent from 2022 to 2023, according to the latest report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) to 86,420 cases from 65,893.
Meghalaya recorded only 64 cases in 2023 to do with cyber crime. While 29 (45.31 per cent) of these were to do with fraud, 17 (26.56 per cent) involved sexual exploitation.
Nationally, during 2023 68.9 per cent of cyber crime cases registered were for the motive of fraud (59,526 out of 86,420 cases) followed by sexual exploitation at 4.9 per cent (4,199 cases) and extortion with 3.8 per cent (3,326 cases).
A total of 1,77,335 cases of crime against children were registered across the country in 2023, showing an increase of 9.2 per cent as compared to the previous year. A total of 4,48,211 cases of crime against women were registered, marking an increase of 0.7 per cent.
Meghalaya registered 628 crimes against women, several times higher than the figure in Manipur (201), Mizoram (184), Nagaland (56), Sikkim (134), Arunachal Pradesh (326) and Goa (286) but fewer than Tripura (791).
The overall crime rate per lakh population climbed from 422.2 in 2022 to 448.3 in 2023.
Motor Vehicle Act violations doubled, rising from 94,450 to 1.92 lakh cases, contributing heavily to the overall increase. Crimes affecting the human body — ranging from hurt to homicide — increased by 2.3 per cent, with 11.85 lakh cases registered
Rising case numbers does not, on its own, indicate that crimes are being committed in greater numbers. “Increase in crime numbers in state police data may in fact be on account of certain citizen-centric police initiatives, like launching of e-FIR facility or women helpdesks, etc,” the report said. “The increase or decrease in crime numbers, however, does call for a professional investigation of underlying factors pertaining to the local communities to suitably address the pertinent issues.”
