Rajasthan has recorded the highest number of rape cases in the country in 2020, followed by Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data.
The crime data for 2020 released by the NCRB showed Rajasthan reported the highest number of rape cases among the states. A total of 5310 rape cases were registered in various police stations across the state.
Uttar Pradesh came second with 2,769, followed by Madhya Pradesh with 2,339 and Maharashtra with 2,061 cases.
However, the desert state has witnessed a decline of around 16 per cent in crime against women, and stands third with 34,535 cases, after Uttar Pradesh with 49,385 and West Bengal with 36,439 cases registered in 2020.
Of the total rape victims, 1,279 are under 18 while 4,031 are adults.
The state also witnessed an increase in crimes against members of scheduled caste – in 2018, the state recorded 4,607 cases, which rose to 6,794 in 2019 and 7,017 in 2020 with a crime rate of 57.4 per cent.
Delhi accounted for nearly 40 percent of all rape cases and almost 25 percent murder cases among 19 metropolitan cities in India in 2020, according to latest government data.
Altogether, 1,849 murder cases and 2,533 rape cases were reported across the country in 2020, a year that witnessed COVID-19 outbreak and lockdowns, the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data showed.
The NCRB, which functions under the Union home ministry, classified 19 cities with over 20 lakh population as metropolitans -- Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi, Ghaziabad, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Kanpur, Kochi, Kolkata, Kozhikode, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, Patna, Pune and Surat.