While India is making tremendous economic progress as compared to other developing countries, the 11 most dangerous states in India are a testament to the fact that all is not well in the nation. Of course please do not read this article if you will find it triggers past trauma or you have a difficult time hearing about rape.
India is often dubbed the rape capital of the world, a statement that is not only depressing but makes the country sound like it is completely unfit for women. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes, India reports 1.8 rapes per 100,000 population. Unfortunately, this figure pertains to 2010 and hence will have changed considerably by now. Nonetheless, even in 2010, the per capita rate was actually much less than some other countries like South Africa, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand. So why exactly is India being maligned as the rape capital? Maybe the number of rapes in India are higher than any country and the per capita rate is diluted due to the huge population? Well, no, that is certainly not the case either. India reported 34,651 cases of rape in 2015 and while that is indeed a lot, it is still much less than the number of rapes reported in the US, which amounts to more than 150,000. Again, these statistics do not correspond to the label that India has been awarded.
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Well, my assumption is that the name caught on because the actual rapes in the country are much higher than the reported cases. That seems like a strange proposition but a large percentage of the population is still under the delusion that once a woman gets raped, her honor is lost. She is looked upon by society with distaste and some even blame her for inviting rapists through her less than modest dressing. Most men refuse to consider her for marriage. Since 75% of Indians still prefer arranged marriage, this is a huge problem. Due to fear of these consequences, rape victims usually do not go to the police with their tragic tales and live on with the trauma and secret. Whether or not this means that India truly is the rape capital of the world remains to be seen, but the focus of the world should be reducing this abominable crime instead of arguing over who is worse.
Rape is obviously not the only thing one considers when measuring the danger that a nation poses. Unfortunately, there are a great many types of crimes that prevail in India: theft, murders, corruption, bribery, etc. The fact that India has a separate category of “crimes against scheduled castes” says a lot. Scheduled caste is the term given in the Indian constitution describing the lowest caste in the country, the ‘untouchables’ for want of a better word. It’s more than despicable that people would want to commit crimes against the helpless, disadvantaged people of society but the bitter truth is that approximately 45,000 such crimes occurred in 2015.
So what exactly are the causes of crime in the developing nation of India? This report by CNN shows that poverty and illiteracy are major issues in the country. These two factors are huge motivators to commit crime, hence causing various dangers to crop up in the society.
Therefore, we used the crime rates in each state to determine which states are the most dangerous ones in India. Like the 10 Worst, Poorest and Most Dangerous Neighborhoods in New York City, these states are, arguably, the dark spots in an otherwise fascinating country. The rate of total cognizable crimes (under the Indian Penal Code) per 100,000 population was the statistic chosen for the ranking, taking the numbers from the report issued by the National Crime Records Bureau. Interestingly, some of the 11 most dangerous states in India have a per capita crime rate lower than the national average of 234.2. Just to make it clear, we have not included Union Territories in our ranking, otherwise Delhi would have won the race by a long shot with a per capita crime rate of an astounding 916.8. Now let’s finally get on with the list:
11. Chhattisgarh
Rate of total cognizable crimes per 100,000 population: 220.9
Chhattisgarh is named after the thirty-six forts that reside within the state. It is quite a unique state as its female to male ratio has always remained higher than the rest of the country, which is why women tend to be more independent here. Ironically, the rape rate in Chhattisgarh is still not very low, as it had 13.6 sexual offenses per 100,000 female population in 2015.
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10. Karnataka
Rate of total cognizable crimes per 100,000 population: 224.0
Next on our list of most dangerous states in India is Karnataka, previously known as Mysore, that is a pretty developed state. Its capital, Bangalore, is especially known for its high tech industries. Therefore, it’s quite a shock that the state reported 138,847 crimes in 2015 giving in the tenth spot on our list. Then again, its per capita crime rate is still less than the national average.
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9. Arunachal Pradesh
Rate of total cognizable crimes per 100,000 population: 227.8
We are continuing our list of most dangerous states in India with Arunachal Pradesh that had only 2,968 crimes committed in its territory in 2015, but–since it contributes merely 1.3 million people to the total 1.3 billion population of the country–the crime rate is extremely high for that population. This small state has the third highest murder rate in the country and the highest among all the states on our list: 4.4 in comparison with the state average of 2.6.
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8. Maharashtra
Rate of total cognizable crimes per 100,000 population: 231.2
Maharashtra, number 8 on our list of most dangerous states in India is the second most populous state in the country which correlates with the fact that it has the highest number of reported cognizable crimes, standing at an astounding 275,414. It accounts for 9.3% of the total crimes in the country. What’s surprising is the fact that the number of crimes here are even more than the number of crimes in Uttar Pradesh, which is the most populous Indian state and did not even make it into the list.
7. Tamil Nadu
Rate of total cognizable crimes per 100,000 population: 271.2
Home to one of the longest surviving classical languages in the entire world, Tamil Nadu not only ranks as the seventh most dangerous state in India due to its high crime rate, but also has the second highest crime rate when it comes to the category of ‘crimes against body’, which includes crimes such as murder, kidnapping, dowry deaths and human trafficking among others. It is only surpassed by Kerala in this gruesome category.
6. Rajasthan
Rate of total cognizable crimes per 100,000 population: 273.9
Although Rajasthan is the largest state in India, 85% of it is a desert. A very large percentage of the great That Desert is located in Rajasthan and hence, the state is generally economically backward. It is mostly driven by agricultural activities, as opposed to the industrialization that is taking over the rest of the country. Furthermore, Rajasthan is the worst off in the category of crimes against scheduled castes, so the state may as well be mentally backward too.Let’s see what’s next on our list of most dangerous states in India.
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5. Telangana
Rate of total cognizable crimes per 100,000 population: 290.7
Like Rajasthan, Telangana, the next on our list of most dangerous states in India depends mostly on agriculture to drive its economy and hence, is not very industrialized. Furthermore, Telangana seems to be high up on the list when analyzing the number of human trafficking cases by state. It accounted for 561 cases out of the 6,877 cases that occurred during the year 2015.
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4. Haryana
Rate of total cognizable crimes per 100,000 population: 310.4
Out of the eleven states on our list, Haryana appears to be the worst in the thievery department. Its crime rate is definitely not enviable for theft cases, standing at 75.7, rivaled only by the rate of 81.0 in the state of Mizoram.
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3. Assam
Rate of total cognizable crimes per 100,000 population: 321.8
Out of all the states on our list of most dangerous states in India, Assam has the highest crime rate when considering sexual offenses, with 20.6 such crimes for every 100,000 of the female population. Sexual offences mainly include rapes and attempts to rape but also include within their scope insults to a woman’s modesty. The state has had 1,733 cases of rape within it. Moreover, Assam also has the highest crime rate when it comes to violent crimes in general, so it’s definitely a scary place to visit.
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2. Madhya Pradesh
Rate of total cognizable crimes per 100,000 population: 348.3
Smack dab in the middle of the huge country, Madhya Pradesh, one of the most dangerous states in India is often called the Heart of India due to the geographical location it occupies. It ranks right after Rajasthan in the total covered area and seems to be a dangerous state, especially for women. Out of the total rape cases reported in the country, 12.7% of them originated from Madhya Pradesh. Furthermore, Madhya Pradesh also presents the second highest number of crimes in the country, amounting to 268,614.
1. Kerala
Rate of total cognizable crimes per 100,000 population: 723.3
Although Kerala has the highest overall crime rate as well as the highest crime against body rate in India, it’s not all bad. The southernmost state actually has the highest Human Development Index (HDI) among all other states according to Live Mint, an e-paper that has calculated state wise HDI, using the same criteria that the United Nations does while computing the index for separate countries. Since Kerala’s HDI is higher than 0.7, it would be classified as ‘high human development’ by the UN. Quite a paradox, considering that it ranks number one among the 11 most dangerous states in India.
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