Temporal Trends and Regional Variation in Major Crimes against Women in India: Evidence from NCRB Data, 2017–2023

Violence against women remains a pervasive public health and human rights concern in India, despite extensive legal provisions and policy efforts. Using nationally representative data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), this study examines patterns and trends in major Indian Penal Code (IPC) crimes against women between 2017 and 2023, with a focus on temporal changes and geographical variation across six zones of the country. Eight categories of crimes were analysed, including cruelty by husband or relatives, rape, kidnapping and abduction, assault with intent to outrage modesty, dowry deaths, acid attacks, abetment to suicide of women, and murder with rape or gang rape. Across the study period, crimes against women consistently accounted for around one-tenth of all IPC-registered crimes, and the absolute number of cases increased from 315,215 in 2017 to 360,361 in 2023. Domestic violence, reflected through cruelty by husband and his relatives, remained the most prevalent and fastest-growing category, followed by assault on women with intent to outrage modesty and kidnapping and abduction of women. Rape cases showed relatively stable annual counts, indicating persistent sexual violence. Considerable regional disparities were observed, with the Northern zone recording the highest crime rate against women in 2022 (88.77 per 100,000 female population), substantially exceeding the national average. The findings highlight that violence against women in India is widespread, persistent, and unevenly distributed, and that legislative measures alone have not produced sustained reductions. Strengthening criminal justice accountability, expanding survivor-centred and trauma-informed services, and implementing gender-transformative prevention strategies are essential to reduce women’s vulnerability to violence. By providing recent, regionally disaggregated evidence, this study contributes to a stronger empirical basis for targeted interventions and policy action to advance women’s safety and support India’s progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 5.2.