Bhubaneswar: The highest number of victims who were trafficked for forced labour last year were from Odisha, which also saw cyber crimes shoot up by a whopping 30 per cent amid the coronavirus lockdown, according to NCRB report.
The state registered one of the highest rates of murders and attempts to murder in the country, as well as the biggest crime rate per lakh population in cases of hit and run, dacoity and criminal intimidation, the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) said in its latest report.
The rate of cyber crimes was 4.2 per lakh population in the state, higher than the national rate of 3.7, according to the ‘Crime in India 2020′ report that was published on Tuesday.
The state reported 1,931 cyber crimes in 2020, an increase of 30.03 per cent from 1,485 in the previous year and staggering 129 per cent from 843 in 2018, the report stated.
Odisha is the third highest in the country with 524 cases of publication and transmission of obscene or sexually-explicit acts in an electronic form. With 220 cases, it recorded the highest incidents of defamation, morphing and indecent representation of women.
The state is in the fourth position in the number of cyber frauds with 1,079 cases, including 132 credit or debit card fraud and 549 online banking scams. A total of 369 people were arrested for cyber crimes.
There were 103 cases of human trafficking, a 29.93 per cent reduction from 147 incidents in 2019. However, the number of victims who were trafficked stood at 741, including 287 women and 159 children, the second highest in the country.
It topped the list in the number of people above 18 years who were victims of trafficking, the NCRB said.
As many as 653 people were trafficked for the purpose of forced labour, the highest among all the states and Union territories. It is 44.97 per cent of the total victims who were trafficked for forced labour in the country last year.
A total of 764 people, including 280 women, were rescued in 2020, while 189 suspects were arrested on charges of human trafficking.
According to the NCRB, 1,470 people were murdered in the state with a rate of 3.2 per lakh population, the fourth highest in the country. The state reported 4,135 incidents of attempts to murder with a rate of 9.1 per lakh population, the third highest in the country.
The report stated that 3,735 hit-and-run cases, involving 3,874 victims, occurred in Odisha last year, recording the highest rate of 8.2 in the country.
There were 307 incidents of dacoity involving 321 victims with the biggest rate of 0.7 in the nation. It is second after Delhi in robberies, registering a 4.8 crime rate per lakh population with 2,162 cases.
A total of 3,524 incidents of forgery, cheating and fraud occurred last year. The state topped the list under the category of criminal intimidation as it recorded a rate of 48.4 crimes per lakh population with 22,027 cases.
Moreover, 1,179 cases were registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, of which 1,031 incidents were for possession of drugs for trafficking.
PTI