Almost four crime cases registered every hour in city in 2024: NCRB

Lucknow: The city registered 31,421 crime cases in 2024 -- an average of roughly one case every 17 minutes or 3.6 cases every hour or 86 cases a day, according to the latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data.

This is an increase of 6.61% from 29,472 cases in 2023 and about 64.8% from 19,058 cases in 2022.

Lucknow recorded one of the highest crime rates among India’s major metropolitan cities in 2024, ranking fourth among 19 cities with populations above 20 lakh, according to the data on IPC/BNS and Special & Local Laws (SLL) offences.

UP capital recorded a crime rate of 1083.1 cases per lakh population in 2024 — significantly higher than the average crime rate of 737.4 among the 19 metropolitan cities covered in the NCRB report. Only Delhi, Surat and Jaipur reported higher crime rates than Lucknow.

Delhi topped the list with a crime rate of 1824.5 per lakh population, followed by Surat at 1377.7 and Jaipur at 1202.3. Lucknow’s crime rate was also higher than cities such as Nagpur (876.6), Patna (841.1), Ahmedabad (775.3) and Bengaluru (677.2).

Among other Uttar Pradesh cities included in the NCRB metropolitan category, Kanpur reported a crime rate of 506.0, while Ghaziabad recorded 446.4 — significantly lower than Lucknow.

The city saw an increase of nearly 2,000 cases between 2023 and 2024. Lucknow’s charge-sheeting rate stood at 67.4%, slightly above the average of 64.2% recorded across the 19 metropolitan cities.

Some of India’s biggest metropolitan centres reported lower crime rates than Lucknow despite much larger populations. Mumbai, with over 1.84 crore population, recorded a crime rate of 380.4, while Hyderabad stood at 391.1 and Kolkata reported the lowest among major metros at just 93.7.

Senior police officials attribute the sharp rise in registered cases partly to Lucknow’s transformation into one of north India’s fastest-growing urban centres.

The expansion of the commissionerate system, growth in population, migration from adjoining districts, rapid real-estate development and increased digital accessibility have contributed to higher reporting of offences.

A senior officer at Lucknow Police said easier access to complaint registration mechanisms has also played a major role in increasing FIR numbers.

“We now have digital systems and mobile applications through which FIRs can be registered almost instantly. Earlier, many offences went unreported. Increased awareness and simplified reporting mechanisms are naturally pushing up the number of registered cases,” the officer said.

Police maintain that a rise in FIR registration does not always directly indicate deterioration in law and order, but also reflects greater public willingness to approach police and improvements in registration transparency.
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