The NCRB’s Crime in India report for 2019 threw up some interesting statistics like every year. The overall crime rate in states like Delhi & Kerala was almost 4-5 times or even more than the crime rate in states like UP & Bihar. Does a higher crime rate indicate a higher incidence of crime & vice-versa? What does a higher crime rate in Delhi & Kerala mean? We find out. In an earlier story, we looked at the numbers pertaining to cognizable and violent crimes registered in 2019 across different states. As observed in that story, mere numbers do not provide a clear picture of the law & order situation in a state. The NCRB report itself clearly states that the numbers will vary with population and so crime rate (measured as crime per lakh population) might be a better indicator to assess the trend. However, the report also states that a lower crime rate need not imply that the police system is more effective or that a higher crime rate means the police system is ineffective since NCRB data is purely based on the cases registered by the police. That is, only those crimes that come to the notice of the police either suo motu or through public complaints are counted in the report. Crimes which do not come to the notice of the police, meaning crimes which are not reported & registered with the police are not counted in the report resulting in underreporting. In this story, we look at the incidence of certain violent crimes such as murder which cannot be hidden and may have near 100% reporting and compare it with the crime rate of offences against women such as rape and assault all of which may not be reported to the police. The comparison might help get a better understanding of the variance in crime rates among states and if there is any under-reporting in some states. Violent crimes such as murder, Dowry Deaths, attempt to murder, rioting, kidnapping are those which involve the use of force to harm or threaten the victim. Such serious crimes also have a greater probability of receiving the attention of the public & media and hence have a greater chance of being registered in police records. As seen in the earlier story, 8.1% of all crimes registered in India are violent crimes. There are 15 different types of crimes as per various sections of the Indian Penal Code that have been classified as violent crimes in the NCRB report. One in four of the registered violent crime in 2019 is a kidnapping Around 1.05 lakh cases were booked as kidnapping and abduction in 2019, under IPC sections 363-369 and constitute over a quarter of the violent crimes. Crimes registered as ‘Grievous hurt’ contribute to more than one-fifth (89,115) of the violent crimes recorded in India in 2019. Over 51,254 cases were booked under attempt to commit murder and 46,209 cases registered as rioting. Further, a total of 32,033 cases of rape accounting for nearly 8% of the violent crimes were registered in 2019. Robbery and Murder contributed to about 7% of the violent crimes each. In the previous story, it was observed that the states of Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, and West Bengal were among the top contributors to violent crime in the country. Despite the large number of crimes registered here, the rate of violent crimes per lakh population is low because of their large population. In more than 94% of the rape cases, the offender was known to the victim Among the larger states, the number of violent crimes registered per lakh population is 83.4 for Assam, almost 2.7 times the national violent crime rate. A total of 12 States/UTs had a higher violent crime rate than the national rate. Delhi, Odisha, West Bengal, Haryana, Bihar, Kerala, Maharashtra, and Jharkhand which together accounted for close to 56% of the registered violent crimes, were also among the states which recorded a violent crime rate above the national rate. Meanwhile, larger states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan which are among the top ten states by number of violent crimes, and other southern states have reported a violent crime rate less than the national rate. The crime rate was the least in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Gujarat. Among the violent crimes, murders and dowry deaths are the most probable ones to get reported and hence there could be near 100% reporting of these crimes. Even in the case of kidnapping and abduction, the percentage of crimes being reported must be substantially higher. Such crimes which are difficult to hide may reflect the actual status of violent crimes in the states, unlike the overall violent crime numbers. On the other hand, the probability of reporting in the case of rape and other crimes against women is comparatively lower because of the social stigma attached to it.