Cyber crime against women: Karnataka registered 7,002 of India's 19,510 cases in 2023 and had 2 of its 459 cyber crime police stations; the answer does not say why

What was asked

In March the Lok Sabha asked the Ministry of Home Affairs about cyber crime against women and children: the incidence rate and growth rate state by state, the sanctioned and filled strength of cyber police units, the number of cyber police stations and digital forensic labs, and, in a separate part, the reasons for one state’s figure for kidnapping of women and girls to compel for marriage. The answer of 24 March 2026 (Unstarred Question 5108) says that police and public order are State subjects, and gives five annexures: cases registered and crime rates for cyber crimes against women and against children in 2021, 2022 and 2023 from the NCRB’s Crime in India; cyber crime police stations and forensic laboratories as on 1 January 2024 from the Bureau of Police Research and Development; and the kidnapping figures for 2023.

The question put 1,463 cases “against women and children” in Uttar Pradesh and 1,447 in Telangana. In the answer those are the two states’ rows for women alone; with children they are 1,497 and 1,483. Neither is the highest. The answer does not point this out.

One state, more than a third of the cases

Cyber crimes against women registered in India rose from 10,730 in 2021 to 14,409 in 2022 and 19,510 in 2023, by 81.8% in two years. Karnataka registered 2,243, 3,904 and 7,002: more than three times as many in 2023 as in 2021, and 35.9% of India’s total, more than a third. The next state, Maharashtra, registered 2,502.

Karnataka’s rise of 4,759 cases is 54.2% of India’s rise of 8,780, more than half of it. Without Karnataka, the rest of India went from 8,487 to 12,508, a rise of 47.4%. Karnataka’s crime rate in 2023, 21.0 cases per lakh population, is more than seven times India’s 2.9 and the highest of any state.

The ministry’s answer to Unstarred Question 251 of 21 July 2026 gives cyber crimes of all kinds: Karnataka registered 21,889 in 2023, 25.3% of India’s 86,420. Its share of those against women, 35.9%, is larger. Neither answer says why.

Police stations and the cases

The answer lists 459 cyber crime police stations in India as on 1 January 2024. Karnataka, with 7,002 cases against women in 2023, has two. Uttar Pradesh, with 1,463, has 75, the most of any state. The table shows none in Assam, Sikkim, Tripura, D & N Haveli and Daman & Diu, Ladakh and Lakshadweep; Assam registered 469 cases against women in 2023. The answer says the States and UTs set up cyber police stations “as per requirement”, and gives no figure for any other cyber police unit. It does not say why Karnataka’s count is two.

What the answer does not give

The question asked for the sanctioned and filled strength of cyber police units. The answer gives neither, for any state. It asked for digital forensic labs; the answer gives forensic science laboratories of every kind (32 State laboratories, 106 regional ones and 605 district mobile units), with no row for Chandigarh, D&N Haveli and Daman & Diu, Ladakh and Lakshadweep, and no mobile units shown for Assam, Karnataka and Telangana. The July answer says cyber forensic-cum-training laboratories have been commissioned in 33 States and UTs under a scheme that released Rs 132.93 crore, without naming them. The question asked for a compound annual growth rate for each state; the answer gives the counts, from which it can be worked out, but no rate.

The last part asked whether Bihar reported 4,941 cases of kidnapping of women and girls to compel for marriage in 2023, at 8.1 per lakh, the highest in India, and the reasons. The table in the answer shows 4,534 cases of women and 4,933 of girls for Bihar, at 7.4 and 8.1; the highest rate for girls is Punjab’s, 8.7. The answer neither confirms nor corrects the question’s figures, and gives no reasons.

Against children

Cyber crimes against children rose from 1,376 in 2021 to 1,902 in 2023. Kerala registered the most in 2023, 443, at the highest rate of any state, 4.7; Karnataka registered 363. Among the falls in 2023, Delhi’s count went from 120 to 15, and Maharashtra’s from 178 to 31. The answer does not say why.

Adds up

Every column of counts in all five annexures adds up exactly to its printed totals for the States, the UTs and India: for women and for children in each of the three years, the police stations (459), the laboratories and mobile units, and the kidnapping table. The July answer’s table of all cyber crimes adds up too.

Got it right

The answer gives three years, not one, with a crime rate beside every count, names its sources and their dates, and every total adds up. Cases against women rose in each year in 13 states and UTs, but fell in each year in four: Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur and Uttarakhand. The largest fall was in Assam, from 856 to 469. West Bengal, which the question called a lower-incidence state, registered 176, at 0.4 per lakh. The July answer adds that the NCRB’s report for 2024 is now published.

Every State and UT

How we did this

• Sources: the Ministry of Home Affairs’ answers to Lok Sabha Unstarred Question 5108 (24 March 2026) and Unstarred Question 251 (21 July 2026).
• The rows of all five annexures were read from the answer’s Word file by a script and checked against its PDF. Every column of counts was summed against its printed totals; crime rates were not summed.
• Shares and changes are our arithmetic on the answer’s counts. A crime rate depends on population, so a small UT can show a high rate on a few cases.
• We searched the Lok Sabha’s index for later answers on cyber crime; the July answer gives 2024 figures for cyber crimes of all kinds but none for women or children. Other audits are listed on the Data Audit page.
• Download the data: cyber-crimes-women-children-by-state-2021-2023.csv. Our method and labels are on the Data Audit method page.

Questions

Corrections

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