The NCRB recently released the ‘Crime in India (CII) – 2020’ report. The data indicates that the total number of crimes registered in 2020 increased by 28% compared to 2019, that too in a year with COVID-19 containment measures such as lockdowns. However, this increase is not reflective of the overall increase in crime. Here is why. The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) recently released the 68 edition of the ‘Crime in India (CII)’ report for the year 2020. The CII 2020 report assumes significance due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the country. Measures taken in the year 2020 to contain the spread of COVID-19 like lockdowns, curfews, etc. were unprecedented and therefore could have had an impact on the number of crimes and the nature of crimes registered. Among the various indicators provided in NCRB’s CII report, ‘Crime rate’ is a key indicator that provides a realistic picture of the prevalence of crime. Crime rate indicates the number of crimes registered per lakh population, hence is a better indicator to compare rates different entities like states, cities, districts, etc., irrespective of the size of the population. It is to be noted that the numbers in the CII report only indicate the number of crimes registered by the police and do not necessarily reflect the number of crimes actually committed. Nevertheless, these numbers are good enough to understand broad trends. In this story, we look at the trends in the overall crime rate and across various crimes in the year 2020 and compare them with the previous years. An overall increase in the Crime rate in 2020 compared to previous years As per the information provided in CII 2020 report, a total of 66.01 lakh crimes were registered in the year 2020. This is significantly higher than the number of crimes registered in the earlier years, which was 51.56 lakhs (2019) & 50.74 lakhs (2018). In other words, the total number of registered crimes increased by around 28% in 2020. The increase in the number of crimes registered during 2020 is largely due to the increase in the number of Crimes registered under the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The number of crimes registered under IPC increased from 32.25 lakhs in 2019 to 42.54 lakhs in 2020, an increase of about 32%. The overall Crime Rate in 2020 is 487.8 (per lakh population), compared to 385.5 in 2019. The increase in the crime rate for 2020 is much higher than what was observed in 2019. The higher growth rate is contributed by an increase in crime rates across both IPC and Special & Local Laws (SLL) crimes. The crime rate of IPC crimes increased from 241.1 to 314.3 in 2020, while the SLL crime rate increased from 144.3 in 2019 to 173.4 in 2020. Offences related to COVID-19 related enforcement contributed towards an increase in the IPC crime rate While the overall crime rate for crimes registered under IPC has increased, the trends vary for each of the crimes. While the crime rates have fallen for most of these crimes under IPC, the overall increase can be majorly attributed to one specific crime – ‘Disobedience to order by a Public Servant’. The crime rate under this category of crime increased from 2.2 in 2019 to 45.2 in 2020, an increase of more than 20 times. Even the number of crimes registered under this category increased from around 29 thousand in 2019 to 6.12 lakh in 2020. The sudden spike in this category of crime is due to the violation of COVID-19 containment measures such as lockdowns. The CII report also states that this is due to the COVID-19 related enforcement of the lockdown & social-distancing measures. Apart from these, there is ambiguity about the nature of IPC crimes which have contributed to an increase in the Crime rate of IPC crimes. A total of 10.62 lakh cases of crime are listed under ‘Other IPC crimes’ in 2020 which accounts for a quarter of the total crimes registered under IPC for 2020, translating to a crime rate of 78.5 in 2020, more than four times the crime rate in 2019 which was only 18.9. In the year 2018, it was 16.8. Ambiguity on the increase in Crime rate for SLL crimes In the cases registered under various provisions of SLL, a major variation between 2020 & 2019 is for the crimes related to the ‘Motor Vehicle Act’. The crime rate fell from 15.2 to 4.1 for this category. This can be attributed to the lockdown & social distancing measures relating to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has restricted vehicular movement. The crime rate for cases registered under various ‘Crime Against Women’ related acts fell from 2.4 in 2019 to 1.8 in 2020. This is largely contributed by the fall in crime rate for cases registered under the ‘The Dowry Prohibition Act’, which fell from 2 in 2019 to 1.6 in 2020. The crime rate for crimes under IT Act fell from 2.3 to 2.2.