NCRB 2023: Crimes against children up by 9.2% – Madhya Pradesh worst hit, Maharashtra tops kidnappings, MP tops cyber crimes, over 66,000 POCSO cases reported

The recently published data from the National Crime Records Bureau revealed information concerning crimes against children in the country for the year 2023. It appears that there is an increase in the scale of such incidents compared to the previous two years, with certain states exhibiting significantly higher figures than others.

A 9.2% rise over 2022 was recorded in 2023, with 1,77,335 occurrences of crime against children, alongside a roughly tenfold increase in crimes against minors since 2005.

The overall number of these reported in 2022 was 1,62,449 and 1,49,404 in 2021. The states that experienced the highest number of cases in 2023 were Madhya Pradesh, which had 22,393, closely followed by Maharashtra with 22,390. Uttar Pradesh noted 18,852, Rajasthan witnessed 10,577, and Assam had 10,174.

The total number of incidents (I) concerning murder attempts in the same year was 290, while the number of victims (V) stood at 337, which corresponds to a crime rate (R) of 0.1 per lakh population. Similarly, with respect to exposure and abandonment, the occurrences amounted to 653, while the victim count was 664, establishing a crime rate of 0.1 per lakh population.

Number of children kidnapped and raped in 2023

There were 79,884 instances with 82,106 victims, resulting in a crime rate of 18.0 per lakh population regarding the kidnapping and abduction of children under Sections 363, 363A, 364, 364A, 365, 366, 366A, 367, 368, and 369 of the Indian Penal Code, in 2023.

The leading states in this list were Maharashtra, having 12,089 incidents alongside 12,971 victims, Madhya Pradesh with 9,833 incidents and 9,900 victims, Odisha with 5,905 incidents and 5,906 victims, Rajasthan with 4,441 incidents and 4,465 victims, and Karnataka with 3,228 incidents and 3,292 victims.

When it pertains to the trafficking of children, 397 incidents were reported involving 1,425 victims. There were 849 reported incidents with a total of 852 victims in relation to the rape of children. The total count of crimes against children under the Indian Penal Code was documented at 98,399 incidents with a total of 1,05,094 victims in 2023.

Madhya Pradesh recorded 15,840 incidents and 16,546 victims, Maharashtra reported 13,461 incidents and 14,473 victims, Uttar Pradesh had 10,089 incidents and 10,335 victims, Bihar noted 7,018 incidents and 7,397 victims, while Rajasthan documented 6,180 incidents and 6,237 victims, rounding out the top five states.

Crimes recorded under POCSO Act in 2023

The state of Uttar Pradesh underwent 8,706 incidents and 8,966 victims, Maharashtra had 8,639 occurrences and 8,761 victims, Madhya Pradesh recorded 6,517 incidents and 6,559 victims, Tamil Nadu noted 4,581 incidents and 4,728 victims, and Karnataka reported 3,878 incidents and 3,992 victims.

These ranked as the top five states in relation to the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, an SSL (Special and Local Laws), as the total number of instances was 67,694 with 68,636 victims.

Furthermore, Sections 4 and 6 of the POCSO Act in conjunction with Section 376 of the IPC recorded a total of 40,434 incidents and 40,846 victims out of which 40,046 incidents were related to girls with 40,423 victims. On the other hand, instances concerning boys were 388 with 423 victims.

Likewise, instances were reported to be at 22,444 with 22,868 victims when addressing Sections 8 and 10 of the POCSO Act alongside Section 354 of the IPC. There were 22,149 incidents associated with girls and 22,557 victims, whereas 295 instances related to boys were recorded with 311 victims.

Under Section 12 of the POCSO Act along with Section 509 of the IPC, a total of 2,826 incidents were recorded with 2,910 children identified as victims. There were 2,778 incidents linked to girls, which accounted for 2,835 victims. Forty-eight incidents pertaining to boys were noted with 75 victims.

Pertaining to Sections 14 and 15 of the POCSO Act, read with Sections 376, 354, and 509 of the IPC, there were 722 recorded incidents involving 727 victims. Of these, girls comprised 698 incidents and 703 victims, whereas boys accounted for 24 incidents and an equal number of victims.

There were 734 incidents involving 745 victims with regard to the POCSO Act and Section 377 of the IPC. Among these, girls accounted for 48 incidents and 49 victims, while boys comprised 686 incidents and 696 victims. A total of 534 incidents were reported, involving 540 victims, concerning Sections 17 to 22 of the POCSO Act, out of which 513 were incidents alongside 519 victims, while boys had 21 incidents and 21 victims.

Additionally, there were 6,038 incidents and 6,051 victims reported under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act in 2023.

Cyber crimes against children in 2023

There were 1,681 incidents and 1,736 victims reported under the Cyber Crimes/Information Technology Act (SSL Law), which encompassed 1,499 incidents and 1,536 victims associated with the publishing or transmitting of material that depicts children in sexually explicit acts.

The total number of crimes against children (IPC+SLL) was reported to be 177,335 incidents and 186,521 victims. Madhya Pradesh recorded 22,393 incidents and 23,149 victims, Maharashtra had 22,390 incidents and 23,555 victims, Uttar Pradesh reported 18,852 incidents and 19,362 victims, Rajasthan noted 10,577 incidents and 10,684 victims, and Assam recorded 10,174 incidents and 10,404 victims, making them the top five states in this category.

Disposal of cases related to “crime against children” in 2023

According to the “police disposal of crime against children”, the total cases disposed of by the authorities reached 174,667 at the end of the year. There were 158 cases quashed during the investigation stage, 65 cases stayed, while 82,930 cases remained pending inquiry.

Likewise, a total of 57,424 trials were completed, while 63,335 cases were disposed of by the courts, and there were 590,755 cases pending trial by the end of 2023, based on “court disposal of crime against children”.

The “disposal of persons arrested for crimes against children” data highlighted that 19,135 males and 236 females were convicted, culminating in a total of 19,371. Moreover, 3,227 males and 63 females were discharged, totalling 3,290, while 45,839 males and 1,186 females were acquitted, which sums up to 47,025.

Age of victims and their relation to the offender

According to the “age profile of child victims of the POCSO Act”, there were 28 boys and 734 girls under the age of 6, resulting in a total of 762 victims. The count of boys and girls aged between 6 to 12 years was 141 and 3,088 respectively, leading to a figure of 3,229 victims.

The number of victims aged 12 to 16 years was 15,444 victims, comprising 157 boys and 15,287 girls. For the age range of 16 to 18 years, there were 97 boys and 21,314 girls, totalling 21,411 victims.

The total count of child victims, including 423 boys and 40,423 girls, reached 40,846 victims.

The information regarding “offenders’ relation to child victims of the POCSO Act (Sections 4 and 6)” indicated that there were 39,076 incidents where the perpetrator was known to the victim, 3,224 instances involved family members, 15,146 cases revolved around family friends, neighbours, employers or other known individuals, 20,706 were related to friends, online friends or live-in partners under the pretext of marriage, and in 1,358 instances the offenders were unknown or not identified, resulting in a total of 40,434 cases.

Important: The NCRB classifies offences under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Special and Local Laws (SLL) for the purpose of assisting in investigations and informing policy-making. India’s main criminal legislation, the Indian Penal legislation (IPC) which was replaced by Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) last year enumerated crimes and their associated penalties. SSL are particular legislations passed by Indian states and local administrations.

Conclusion

The NCRB 2023 figures are a sobering reminder that crimes against children remain a deep-rooted challenge in India. The steady rise across categories, from kidnapping to cyber exploitation, highlights how vulnerable children continue to be despite stronger laws. With states like Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Uttar Pradesh consistently topping the charts, the data underscores the need for both effective enforcement and greater public awareness. Beyond policy, the real test lies in ensuring swifter trials and meaningful protection for the youngest citizens.

Information in IPC and POCSO Sections

Indian Penal Code

Section 354 – Assault or criminal force on a woman with intent to outrage her modesty.

Section 363 – Punishment for kidnapping.

Section 363A – Kidnapping or maiming a minor for purposes of begging.

Section 364 – Kidnapping or abducting in order to murder.

Section 364A – Kidnapping for ransom, etc.

Section 365 – Kidnapping or abducting with intent secretly and wrongfully to confine a person.

Section 366 – Kidnapping, abducting, or inducing woman to compel her marriage, etc.

Section 366A – Procuration of minor girl (inducing a girl under 18 to go from any place with intent that she may be forced or seduced to illicit intercourse).

Section 367 – Kidnapping or abducting in order to subject a person to grievous hurt, slavery, etc.

Section 368 – Wrongfully concealing or keeping in confinement a kidnapped or abducted person.

Section 369 – Kidnapping or abducting child under ten years of age with intent to steal from its person.

Section 377 – Unnatural offences (carnal intercourse against the order of nature).

Section 509 – Word, gesture, or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman.

POCSO Act

Section 4 – Punishment for penetrative sexual assault.

Section 6 – Punishment for aggravated penetrative sexual assault.

Section 8 – Punishment for sexual assault.

Section 10 – Punishment for aggravated sexual assault.

Section 12 – Punishment for sexual harassment of a child.

Section 14 – Punishment for using a child for pornographic purposes.

Section 15 – Punishment for storage of pornographic material involving a child.

Section 17 – Punishment for abetment of an offence.

Section 18 – Punishment for attempt to commit an offence.

Section 19 – Obligation to report an offence.

Section 20 – Punishment for failure to report or record a case.

Section 21 – Punishment for false complaint or false information.

Section 22 – Procedure for trial and protection of identity of the child.