NCRB Data Reveals Panjab’s Deaths & Drug Crimes 2nd Highest in India

May

2026

After maintaining the top position for three consecutive years in drug overdose deaths, Panjab slipped to the second spot in 2024, according to the latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report on Accidental Deaths & Suicides in India. A total of 978 deaths were reported nationwide with Tamil Nadu topping the list at 313, followed by Panjab (106) and Madhya Pradesh (90). NCRB data shows fatalities increased from 89 in 2023 to 106 in 2024. Across India, drug overdose deaths stood at 681 in 2022 and 654 in 2023 before surging sharply to 978 in 2024. The NCRB Crime Report 2024 showed Panjab with the second-highest Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, crime rate at 29 cases per hundred thousand population and the fourth-highest number of cases at 8,973. Additionally, Panjab recorded 33 deaths due to the consumption of spurious liquor in 2024 and had 48 incidents of prison escapes. Panjab and Haryana recorded the second-highest number of unnatural deaths of inmates in prisons in 2024—with 15 deaths each, as per NCRB Prison Statistics 2024. Together, the two states accounted for nearly 18% of the 166 unnatural deaths reported in prisons across India. The state also registered 1,079 murder cases in 2024. The NCRB report recorded 90 farmer suicides in the state. Among them, 73 were landowners, 11 cultivated leased land, while six were agricultural laborers. Furthermore, the report documented 182 suicides by unemployed persons and 301 suicides by housewives. Panjab recorded 2,430 cases under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and 558 rape cases in 2024. Panjab also witnessed a 74% increase in cybercrime cases between 2023 and 2024, but convictions remained at 21%. The data reveals that 888 cybercrime cases were registered in the state in 2024 but chargesheets were filed in only 48% of these cases with a very high pendency of 93% in courts. In cybercrimes against women, the maximum cases were related to cyber pornography and cyber stalking or bullying. In a first, the NCRB also recorded statistics pertaining to the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, with 9,039 cases registered across India in 2024 (earlier coverage).