In news– The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) released the Crime in India report recently.
Key findings of the report-
- As per the NCRB report, communal riots registered an increase of 96% in 2020 over the previous year.
- Similarly, caste riots saw an increase of close to 50%, agrarian riots 38% and riots during ‘andolan/morcha’ increased by 33%.
- Most of the 2020 cases are attributed to the Northeast Delhi riots of February last year.
- Bihar is at second spot with 117 cases, Haryana and Jharkhand 51 each, followed by Maharashtra (26) and Gujarat (23).
- Uttar Pradesh did not record a single case of communal violence in 2020.
- Bihar recorded the highest number in the caste conflict category at 208, followed by Maharashtra (125), UP (116), Karnataka (95) and Tamil Nadu (69).
- In ‘Promoting Enmity Between Groups’ category, highest number of such cases were reported from Tamil Nadu (303) followed by UP (243), Telangana (151) and Assam (147).
- In cases of rioting during ‘andolan/morcha’, it is Kerala that has recorded the highest number of cases.
- Due to the complete lockdown last year, the number of cases registered for crimes against women, children and senior citizens, theft, burglary, robbery and dacoity, among others, dropped by about 2 lakh.
- Murder registered a marginal increase of 1% even as offences falling under the category of “violent crimes” decreased by 0.5%.
- The year 2020 also saw a significant drop in cases related to ‘Offences against the State’, with a drop of 27% over 2019.
- Uttar Pradesh was the only major state to record an increase in ‘Damage to Public Property’ category, many of them during the anti- CAA protests.
- ‘Offences against the State’ include cases related to sedition and waging war against the nation, those falling under provisions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), Official Secrets Act and Damage to Public Property Act and UP recorded the highest number of cases.
- The highest number of UAPA cases were registered in J&K (287), followed by Manipur (169), Jharkhand (86), Assam (76) and UP (72).
- UP was the only state in the top five with no ongoing insurgency to record such high numbers.
- In the Farm protests category, Punjab reported zero cases of agrarian riots and Haryana 34. The highest number of cases have been reported from Bihar, followed by Maharashtra, Karnataka.
The National Crime Records Bureau(NCRB)-
- NCRB was set-up in 1986 to function as a repository of information on crime and criminals so as to assist the investigators in linking crime to the perpetrators.
- It is an Indian government agency responsible for collecting and analysing crime data as defined by the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Special and Local Laws (SLL).
- NCRB is headquartered in New Delhi and is part of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Government of India.
It was set up based on the recommendation of the Task force, 1985 and National Police Commission, 1977 by merging the Directorate of Coordination and Police Computer (DCPC), Inter State Criminals Data Branch of CBI and Central Finger Print Bureau of CBI.
Source: Indian Express
