For the third year in a row, Kolkata has been declared as the safest city in India with least number of cognisable offences per lakh population, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) 2022 data. In 2022, Kolkata recorded the least number of cognisable offences per lakh population — 86 cases per lakh people.
The city has witnessed a drop of 16 per cent in cases as compared to last year. According to the NCRB 2021 data, the city recorded 103.4 cases of cognisable offences per lakh people. The rankings were decided after comparing Kolkata against 18 other cities that have a population of over two million.
According to the latest NCRB data, based on cases recorded and shared by the state governments to the Centre, the metropolitan city was followed by Maharashtra’s Pune, with 280.7 cases per lakh people and Telangana’s Hyderabad with 299.2 cases per lakh people.
However, the capital of Bengal registered an increase in crimes against women. The number of cases rose from 1,783 in 2021 to 1,890 in 2022, NCRB data showed. The crime rate against women was 27.1 per lakh population, greater than Coimbatore’s 12.9 and Chennai’s 17.1, in 2022.
Kolkata recorded 11 rape cases in 2022, the same as in 2021 and 2020 but lesser than 2018 and 2017. In 2018 and 2017, 14 and 15 rape cases were reported respectively.