Mumbai: A staggering 1,87,702 cases of crimes against children were recorded in India in 2024, according to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), even as overall crime in the country fell.
The figure of 1,87,702 translates to an average of over 514 crimes against children every day, more than 21 crimes every hour and nearly one crime every three minutes across the country.
This marks a 5.8 percent increase from the 1,77,335 cases reported in 2023.
The decadal trend points to a steady increase in crimes against children in India.
The number of registered cases increased from 89,423 in 2014 to 1,87,702 in 2024, reflecting an increase of nearly 110 percent over the past decade. While a temporary dip was observed in 2020, the numbers have risen steadily since then, touching the highest level recorded during the decade in 2024.
During the one-year period between 2023 and 2024, crimes against children increased by 5.8 percent.
From 2020 to 2024, the total number of general crimes in India fell from 66.01 lakh to 58.86 lakh cases, reflecting an overall decline of about 10.8 percent.
In contrast, crimes against children increased steadily during the same period from 1,28,531 cases in 2020 to 1,87,702 cases in 2024, registering a sharp increase of about 46.04 percent.
According to NCRB data, crimes against children accounted for 3.2 per cent of all known crimes recorded in India in 2024. Although this percentage dropped from 4.7 per cent in 2023, it remained higher than the levels recorded during 2020-2022, reflecting the continued scale of offenses affecting children.
According to Child Rights and You (CRY) analysis of NCRB state data, Chhattisgarh recorded the highest number of cyber crimes against children with 268 cases, followed by Rajasthan (174), Delhi (151), Uttar Pradesh (137) and Kerala (92). Together, these five states accounted for 822 cases — nearly two-thirds (66.4 percent) of all cybercrimes against children recorded in the country in 2024.
The data further revealed that cyber crimes against children accounted for nearly 0.7 percent of all crimes against children recorded in 2024. Out of a total of 1,87,702 crimes against children recorded during the year, 1,238 cases were registered under the Information Technology (IT) Act as cyber crimes against children.
Significantly, the vast majority of these offenses involved the publication or transmission of material depicting children in explicit sexual acts. Such cases accounted for 1,099 of the 1,238 cybercrime cases recorded against children in 2024 – nearly nine in every 10 cases.
In comparison, all other categories of cybercrime against children together accounted for only 139 cases, highlighting how the transmission of sexually explicit digital content involving children remains the dominant form of cybercrime targeting children in India.
“The latest cybercrime trends uncovered by the NCRB underscore once again why child safety online must remain a national priority. In today’s hyper-connected world increasingly shaped by algorithms and AI, protecting children online is no longer just about controlling screens. It’s about building awareness, empathy and agency between children and caregivers, ensuring emotional identity and safeguarding children’s well-being their spaces”, said Soha Moitra, Director of Programs at CRY.
The NCRB data also highlighted the continuing rate of sexual offenses against children under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act (POCSO). A total of 69,191 POCSO cases were recorded across India in 2024, with a crime rate of 15.6 per 1 lakh child population.
Girls constituted the vast majority of victims/survivors in cases registered under Sections 4 and 6 of the POCSO Act, which deal with penetrative sexual assault and aggravated penetrative sexual assault respectively. Of the 44,567 child victims/survivors registered under these sections in 2024, up to 43,675 were girls, accounting for 98 percent of all victims. Boys accounted for 892 victims. The NCRB data further showed that in the vast majority of POCSO cases, the offender was known to the child.
