Bengal registers over 34,500 cases of crimes against women in 2023: NCRB data

Kolkata, Sep 30 (PTI) West Bengal recorded 34,691 cases of crimes against women in 2023, the latest report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) stated.

An additional 10,024 cases were pending from 2022, taking the total caseload under investigation in 2023 to 44,731.

The report also stated that the police disposed of 34,344 cases over the year and maintained a 93.8 per cent rate of filing charge-sheets, while the pendency rate stood at 23.2 per cent.

The state reported 1,110 rapes, including 27 of minors, it stated.

The NCRB data showed that in many instances, the offender was known to the victim.

The NCRB's breakdown shows that most crimes fell under a few dominant categories including 'domestic cruelty', 'kidnapping and abduction', 'sexual assault', 'rape', and the 'POCSO offences', all of which constitute the bulk of West Bengal's crime-against-women burden.

The NCRB cautioned that its figures reflect police-recorded cases, not actual prevalence, and follow the 'principal offence' rule, where only the gravest offence in a multi-charge FIR is counted. PTI SCH ACD