Crimes against women rose for the third straight year, NCRB data shows. (Representational)

Over 3.5 lakh cases of crime against women were registered across the country in 2017, continuing the upward trend for the third consecutive year, the latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data released on Monday showed.

In 2015, over 3.2 lakh cases of crimes against women were registered and 3,38,954 cases were registered in 2016.

The cases categorised as crimes against women include murder, rape, dowry death, suicide abetment, acid attack, cruelty against women and kidnapping, etc.

According to the NCRB data for 2017, which was released after a delay of more than a year, the maximum cases were registered in Uttar Pradesh (56,011) -- the country's most populated state.

Maharashtra recorded the second-highest number of crimes against women with 31,979 cases, followed by 30,992 in West Bengal, 29,778 in Madhya Pradesh, 25,993 in Rajasthan and 23,082 in Assam, the data said.

Delhi, however, saw a decline in crimes against women for the third straight year. As many as 13,076 FIRs were registered in 2017, down from 15,310 in 2016 and 17,222 in 2015, the NCRB report said.

Assam recorded the highest crime rate of 143 in the country in 2017.

Crime rate is offences registered per one lakh people.

Odisha and Telangana recorded the second-highest crime rate of 94 each, followed by Haryana (88) and Rajasthan (73).

Eight states -- Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura -- registered crimes against women only in three digits, with not even one per cent contribution to the all-India figures, according to the NCRB data.

Among Union Territories, Chandigarh registered 453 cases, followed by 132 in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, 147 in Puducherry, 26 in Daman and Diu, 20 in Dadra and Nagar Haveli, and only six in Lakshadweep, the data stated.

The NCRB, under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, is responsible for collecting and analysing crime data as defined by the Indian Penal Code and special and local laws in the country.