Data / Violence / Police sent 82.0% of the atrocity cases they disposed of in 2024 to court, and closed 6,055 as false

Methods and sources

Police sent 82.0% of the atrocity cases they disposed of in 2024 to court, and closed 6,055 as false

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What this shows

What the police did with every case of crime against Scheduled Castes they had to investigate, from 2017 to 2024: chargesheeted, closed with a final report (and of what kind), or still under investigation, all India and by State and UT for 2024.

What it does not show: Complaints the police never registered, and whether any case closed with a final report was a true complaint: a final report is the police’s conclusion, not a court’s.

Sources

  • National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Ministry of Home Affairs, Crime in India 2017, Volume II, Tables 7A.3 and 7A.4. Primary source.
  • National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Ministry of Home Affairs, Crime in India 2018, Volume II, Tables 7A.3 and 7A.4. Primary source.
  • National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Ministry of Home Affairs, Crime in India 2019, Volume II, Tables 7A.3 and 7A.4. Primary source.
  • National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Ministry of Home Affairs, Crime in India 2020, Volume II, Tables 7A.3 and 7A.4. Primary source.
  • National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Ministry of Home Affairs, Crime in India 2021, Volume II, Tables 7A.3 and 7A.4. Primary source.
  • National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Ministry of Home Affairs, Crime in India 2022, Volume II, Tables 7A.3 and 7A.4. Primary source.
  • National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Ministry of Home Affairs, Crime in India 2023, Volume II, Tables 7A.3 and 7A.4. Primary source.
  • National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Ministry of Home Affairs, Crime in India 2024, Volume II, Tables 7A.3 and 7A.4. Primary source.

Analysis by The Dalit Project, as on 8 Oct 2026.

Read these with the numbers

  • These are cases the police registered. Complaints the police never registered are in no NCRB table.
  • The figures cover every crime against Scheduled Castes in NCRB’s tables: crimes under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 (with or without the IPC or BNS), and under the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955. In 2024, 48 of the 72,169 cases for investigation were under the Protection of Civil Rights Act.
  • A year’s cases for investigation include cases carried over from earlier years and cases reopened, as well as cases registered that year. A case chargesheeted or closed in a year may have been registered in an earlier one.
  • A final report closes a case without a chargesheet. NCRB does not say whether a magistrate accepted each final report, or whether a case closed as false was later reopened, except as reopened cases in a later year.
  • Cases stayed by a court at the investigation stage are counted as still under investigation, as NCRB counts them.
  • NCRB’s 2024 edition counts crimes under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) in place of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Part of any change in 2024 may come from that switch.
  • States/UTs may not be compared purely on the basis of crime figures, as NCRB says under every table: a State that registers more complaints shows more cases.
  • The piece starts at 2017: Crime in India 2016 lays its police disposal tables out differently, and the 2015 edition’s police disposal table (Table 7.3) is not among the files held.
  • NCRB revises figures between editions, so one year’s closing count does not always match the next edition’s opening count: 2017 ended with 16,485 cases under investigation; the 2018 edition starts with 16,519. 2018 ended with 16,323 cases under investigation; the 2019 edition starts with 16,252. 2019 ended with 17,864 cases under investigation; the 2020 edition starts with 18,115. 2020 ended with 19,825 cases under investigation; the 2021 edition starts with 19,858. Each year is shown as its own edition gives it.

Key terms

FIR
First Information Report: the record the police make when they register a complaint of a cognizable offence. A registered case starts with one.
Chargesheet
The report the police file in court at the end of an investigation when they find a case to answer, sending the accused for trial.
Final report
The report the police file when they close a case without a chargesheet. NCRB counts it by reason: false; mistake of fact or of law, or civil dispute; true but insufficient evidence, untraced or no clue; ended as non-cognizable; or abated.
Final report: false
The police closed the case after concluding the complaint was false.
Non-cognizable
An offence the police cannot investigate without a magistrate’s order. A case that ends as non-cognizable was found not to be a cognizable offence.
Abated
Ended because the accused died.
Chargesheeting rate
NCRB’s measure: cases chargesheeted as a share of all cases the police disposed of in the year (Col.18 / Col.19 × 100).
Scheduled Castes
The official list of Dalit communities under India’s Constitution.
PoA Act and PCR Act
The Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, and the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955, which punishes the practice of untouchability.

Changelog and corrections

Version 1: First version: police disposal of crimes against Scheduled Castes, all India, 2017 to 2024, and by State and UT for 2024, from NCRB Tables 7A.3 and 7A.4.

How corrections work. Every change is listed here.

Cite this

The Dalit Project, “Police sent 82.0% of the atrocity cases they disposed of in 2024 to court, and closed 6,055 as false”, version 1, data.dalitproject.org/police-disposal/, as on 8 Oct 2026.