Fact Check on Punjab crime: Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema cited NCRB 2024 crime data to attack the BJP — and some of his figures are right. But others are inflated. And the data he chose not to mention tells a very different story about the state he governs. We went through the same report, page by page.

Arvind Chhabra

Chandigarh, May 15

At a press conference on May 14, Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema cited the National Crime Records Bureau’s Crime in India 2024 report to argue that BJP-governed states have higher crime rates than Punjab. His specific claims: Delhi tops India’s crime chart at 1,602 per lakh; Gujarat stands at 806; Haryana at 739.2; Manipur at 627.8; Madhya Pradesh at 570.3; Maharashtra at 470.4; Odisha at 431.2; Rajasthan at 390.4; and Chandigarh at 338.9. Punjab, he said, stands at 227.1 — proving the Bhagwant Mann government has controlled crime.

The NCRB report he cited is a public document, Crime in India 2024, published by the Ministry of Home Affairs. We checked every number he cited against the tables in that report.

What NCRB Actually Says

NCRB records two categories of crime rate: IPC/BNS (Indian Penal Code / Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita) crimes and SLL (Special & Local Laws) crimes. The combined rate is the total picture.

Three claims are significantly inflated. Delhi’s combined rate from NCRB is 1,360.2 — Cheema cited 1,602, which is 17.8% higher than the actual figure. Haryana’s combined NCRB rate is 578.6 — Cheema’s 739.2 is 27.7% higher. Manipur’s combined rate is only 162.0 — Cheema’s 627.8 is nearly four times the actual figure. This is the most serious discrepancy in the minister’s press conference.

It is possible the minister used a different calculation method — total cognizable crimes divided by a different population base, or figures from a summary chart rather than the primary tables. But the figures he cited for Delhi, Haryana and Manipur are not verifiable from the NCRB tables his office would have used.

Where he is accurate: Punjab’s own figure of 227.1 is the closest match to actual NCRB data — the combined rate is 222.5, a difference of just 4.6. Maharashtra (470.4 vs 477.6) and Odisha (431.2 vs 458.9) are also broadly accurate.

Data Shows BJP States Not Alone at the Top

Cheema selectively listed BJP-governed states. The full ranking from NCRB data tells a more complicated political story:

Source: NCRB Crime in India 2024

Kerala — governed by the Left (CPI-M) — tops the combined crime rate nationally at 1,388.9 per lakh, above BJP-ruled Delhi. Tamil Nadu, governed by the DMK, ranks 4th at 655.4. Telangana under Congress ranks 6th at 568.9. Cheema mentioned none of these states. A genuinely data-driven analysis of crime and governance would have to explain why a Left-governed state tops the crime rate chart — or acknowledge that higher registration rates can reflect better policing and victim confidence, not worse governance.

The NCRB’s own caution applies here: a higher crime rate can mean more crimes are being registered, not necessarily that more crimes are being committed. States with better-functioning police and greater victim confidence tend to show higher registration rates. This cuts both ways — it undermines Cheema’s argument about BJP states, but it also contextualises Punjab’s lower rate.

The Data Cheema Did Not Cite

The minister cited NCRB 2024 selectively. The same report — which has three Volumes— contains data about Punjab that was conspicuously absent from his press conference:

Sources: NCRB Crime in India 2024.

The most significant omission: Punjab ranks #1 in India for drug trafficking cases — 6,060 cases at a rate of 19.6 per lakh population, higher than every other state in the country. Overall NDPS drug cases in Punjab: 8,973, a rate of 29.0 per lakh — second only to Kerala.

The second omission: Punjab’s murders rose 11.9% in 2024 — from 681 to 762 — while murders fell 2.4% nationally and declined in both Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. A state the minister describes as having successfully controlled crime recorded more murders last year than the year before, against a national trend in the opposite direction.

The third omission: juvenile crime in Punjab is rising steeply — 452 cases in 2022 to 672 in 2024, a 48.7% increase in two years. Of those, 37 children were apprehended under the NDPS Act — drug offences — placing Punjab 4th in India among all states for juvenile drug cases.

Fact Check on Punjab crime: The Verdict

• Punjab’s overall IPC+SLL crime rate of 222.5 per lakh is accurate — and it is lower than most BJP-governed states. On this specific metric, Cheema’s direction is correct.  
• His figures for Delhi, Haryana and Manipur are significantly inflated compared to what NCRB tables actually show. The Manipur figure (627.8 vs NCRB’s 162.0) is the most serious discrepancy.  
• He omitted Kerala and Tamil Nadu — non-BJP states with higher crime rates than most states he cited — from his list.  
• He did not mention Punjab’s #1 national ranking in drug trafficking — the most damaging crime metric for the state his government runs.  
• He did not mention Punjab’s 11.9% rise in murders in 2024 — the only major state to see a rise against a national decline.

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