Bihar: 16.3% Spike in Crimes Against Women From 2018-2022; Kidnapping Cases Rise
89,038 incidents of crimes against women were recorded in Bihar between 2018 and 2022.
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(Please note that this story was written before the NCRB data for 2023 was released.)
A total of 89,038 (including Indian Penal Code (IPC) and State Local Laws (SLL)) cases of crimes against women have taken place in the state of Bihar between 2018 and 2022, Team WebQoof found.
A string of recent gang-rape and abduction cases have been noted in Bihar, which has cast a spotlight on women’s safety shortly before the state's assembly elections.
Some recent cases:
13 September: A 14-year-old girl was gang-raped in Nawada.
9 September: A newly-married woman was gang-raped in Kishanganj.
5 September: A woman was abducted and raped at gunpoint from Patna’s railway station.
11 August: A girl was abducted and married after she turned down a marriage proposal from a fellow resident in her village in Muzaffarpur.
With just weeks left until Biharis cast their votes, all major parties are pulling out all stops to woo female voters.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Voter Adhikar Yatra concluded with a video of first-time female voters raising concerns about crime and inadequate security in the state.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi used a public address to accuse the RJD-Congress alliance of undermining women’s progress, while former Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav framed the surge in kidnappings, rapes, and murders as a failure of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s government.
He also wrote a letter to the women on the occasion of Rakshabandhan and appealed to them to give him their support, promising to act as a protective shield against crime, poverty, and corruption.
As the state goes to the polls soon, Team WebQoof went through the data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) (sourced by Factly's Dataful) to find out the state of women’s safety in Bihar between 2018 and 2022.
What Data Shows
Between 2018 and 2022, a total of 89,038 IPC and SLL incidents of crimes against women have taken place in Bihar.
The highest number of incidents of crimes against women took place in 2022, with 20,222 cases, while 2020 recorded the lowest number of incidents, with 15,359 cases. The pandemic year (2020) saw an overall decrease in the number of cases, as compared to previous years.
Category-Specific Data on Rapes, Murder Victims and Kidnapping in Bihar
The state witnessed 3,854 rape cases, 2,504 murders and 42,498 kidnapping cases in total between 2018 and 2022.
Similarly, 2022 witnessed the highest rape cases, with an increase of 95 from the previous year. While 2018 recorded the least number, with 651 cases.
The highest number of female murder victims was in 2022, while 2018 had the lowest, with 562 victims in Bihar.
Additionally, the number of female murder victims has remained steady over the five mentioned years in the state.
In 2022, the number of female kidnapping victims reached a peak of 10,190, an increase of 1,529 from the previous year.
By contrast, 2020 saw the lowest figure at 6,671, a decline of 2,354 from 2019.
As per NCRB's data, 2022 recorded the highest number of adult female kidnapping victims at 5,691. In contrast, 2019 was the only year between 2018 and 2019 when the number of female child victims (5,345) surpassed that of adult victims.
Additionally, between 2018 and 2022, an increase of 2,239 female victims of kidnapping can be noticed in Bihar.
Dip in cases in 2020: In 2020, serious offences such as rape and kidnapping declined across India, with rape cases falling by 12.4%, according to The Hindu.
However, rape cases in the state rose to 808 in 2020, compared to 730 in 2019.
Crimes against Women Data between 2000-2004 (Rashtriya Janata Dal Government)
(Note: NCRB data for certain categories were not available for the year 2000)
Team WebQoof looked at the NCRB data between 2000-2004 (the last full year of RJD’s government) to check the number of rapes, murders and kidnappings when RJD’s Rabri Devi was the chief minister of Bihar.
Rape cases: Between 2001 and 2004, Bihar recorded 4,431 rape cases. In contrast, 2018-2022 under the JD(U) registered 3,854 cases, a decrease of 577 cases compared to the earlier period.
In the two government timelines (2001–2004 and 2018–2022), the highest number of cases was recorded in 2004, with 1,390 cases.
Female murder victims: Between 2002 and 2004 (three years), Bihar recorded 1,215 female murder victims. 2002 recorded the lowest number of victims with 397 while, 2004 recorded the highest with 425 female victims.
In the two timelines, 2021 recorded the highest number of murder victims at 655.
Female kidnapping: Data from 2002–2004 (three years) shows a total of 2,018 victims. 2004 recorded the highest number of cases with 948 while, 2002 remained at 443, recording the least.
With the available figures, 2022 recorded the highest number of female kidnappings, across categories, with 10,190 victims.
Year on year data between 2001-2004 on the crimes against women in Bihar.
(Altered by The Quint)
Why Women’s Issues Become Popular in the Run-up to Elections
Political parties in India actively woo female voters because women have increasingly emerged as a decisive electoral force. The Quint reported in 2022 that since the 2015 Bihar Assembly elections, women have outnumbered men in voter turnout across at least 15-16 states, signalling their growing political engagement.
As psephologist Sanjay Kumar told The Quint in 2022, women make up almost half the electorate, giving them the power to sway results, especially in closely contested elections.
This influence was visible in the 2020 Bihar polls, where women voters outpaced men by 5%, 6%, and 11% in successive phases, decisively benefiting the NDA, according to the Centre for Law and Policy Research.
Consequently, political parties go the extra mile during campaigning to impress the female voter with promises about safety, jobs and subsidies.
Although data is not available for 2023-2025 yet, the poll-bound state has seen many cases of crime against women in recent years, as seen in news reports.
Additionally, data shows that crimes against women in Bihar remain a serious concern, with cases of rape, murder, and kidnapping continuing at significant levels across successive governments.
Law officer (Home Department) Vivek Kumar Gupta told the Times of India in 2021 that while several laws existed to protect women, the real problem lay in implementation. He noted that despite amendments to Section 354 of the IPC, crimes against women could not be curbed without a change in societal mindset, stressing the importance of education.
(Data sourced: National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). Crimes against Women: Year- and State-wise Number of Types of Crimes against Women, Victims, and Crime Rate [Data set]. Dataful.)