New Delhi: With Uttar Pradesh in the spotlight for its civic poll results on Friday, an alarming data has come forth showing the state recording the highest number of heinous crimes such as murder and those against women in 2016.

The details are crucial for current CM Yogi Adityanath who after assuming power earlier this year said women’s security is his top priority.  For the crime graph to take a plunge requires intense efforts from the administration and especially the police which is still criticized for its laxity and lackadaisical approach.

The data was released by the National Crime Records Bureau today. Neighbouring state Bihar ranked second in the list.

Murder cases

UP, the country's largest state, reported the highest number of cases of murder - 4,889 - accounting for 16.1 per cent followed by Bihar where 2,581 (8.4 per cent) murders took place last year.

Crime against women

UP registered 14.5 per cent (49,262 cases) of total cases of crime against women followed by West Bengal 9.6 per cent (32,513 cases) during 2016.

Rape cases recorded an increase of 12.4 per cent from 34,651 cases in the country in 2015 to 38,947 in 2016.

Madhya Pradesh at par with Uttar Pradesh

Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh reported the highest incidence of rape with 4,882 cases (12.5 per cent) and 4,816 (12.4 per cent) followed by Maharashtra 4,189 (10.7 per cent) last year, the NCRB data said.

UP recorded 9.5 per cent of the total IPC crime reporter in the country followed by Madhya Pradesh (8.9 per cent), Maharashtra (8.8 per cent) and Kerala (8.7 per cent).

A total of 37,37,870 people were arrested in the country in 2016 for various crimes while a total of 32,71,262 people were chargesheeted, 7,94,616 were convicted and 11,48,824 people were acquitted or discharged.

(With additional information from PTI)