The much awaited 2017 Crime in India report was unveiled by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) last week. This data was published after a lull of two years. A few months ago, government officials were blaming West Bengal and Bihar for their half-hearted response in sending data.
Decrease in riots
The new data says that incidents of riots have decreased across the country. In 2017, total 161 cases of riots recorded and 247 people suffered every day in 2017. The positive news is that number of rioting incident has decreased of 5 percent but number of riot victims all over the country gone up by 22 percent in 2017.
Jump in riot victims
As per the report of NCRB overall 58,880 rioting incidents were reported the number of riot victims stood at 90,394, while a year ago the number of rioting cases was much higher 61,974 but number of casualties recorded 73,774. Rioting does not indicate only to communal riots. It also adds rioting due to dispute of land/property, political reasons, protests, any type of conflict and so on. Culprits of rioting is liable to be punished with two years of jail or fine or may be both, as per IPC ruling.
Bihar tops in riots
As usual Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are the leading states in rioting segment. Overall 11,698 incidents of rioting were reported in Bihar. Uttar Pradesh is in the second place where 8,990 cases of riots were registered then followed by Maharashtra, where 7,743 incidents of riots took place.
Riot victims highest in TN
As far as riot victims are concerned Tamil Nadu(TN) has left other states behind. According to NCRB report there were 1,935 incidents of rioting took place in Tamil Nadu and number of casualties were 18,749. It shows the intensity of riots in Tamil Nadu.
Punjab most peaceful
Punjab declared as the most peaceful state, least rioting cases were reported in the state, registered just one case, Mizoram two cases while Nagaland and Meghalaya registered 5 cases each.
Decrease in communal riots
The incident of Communal riots have decreased across the country from 869 in 2016 to 723 in 2017. Victim numbers have also come down from 1,139 in 2016 to 1,092 in 2017. Maximum communal riots happened in Bihar 163 in 2017 followed by Karnataka and Odisha with 92 and 91 communal riots respectively. Haryana performed much better and reported only 25 riots in 2017 in comparison to 250 in 2016.
UP tops in caste conflict
As per the NCRB report riot due to caste conflict has drastically come down. Overall 65 percent decline in 2017 in comparison to 2016. Uttar Pradesh (UP) witnessed the highest number of caste conflict, 346 incidents, while in 2016 it was 899.
Land/property dispute
Land and property conflicts are the biggest factors of rioting in the country. In 2017, total 22 percent cases of riots were accounted due to land/property disputes among all the rioting cases. Bihar is on number one spot in riots due to this conflict (7,030 cases) then came the number of other three states Karnataka, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.
Senior citizens unsafe
The financial capital of India, registered the highest number of crimes against elderly people, as per the data released by NCRB of the 19 cities . 1,115 offences against senior citizens were reported in Mumbai in 2017. National capital Delhi is on the second spot with 736 cases, Chennai third 484 cases, Pune is on the fourth place recorded 178 cases while Nagpur on the fifth place witnessed 121 cases.
Dependent on caretakers
Elders have to live alone most of the time and are dependent on caretakers for the household work. Most of the crimes against senior citizens are committed by people known to them.
Cyber-crime doubled
Cyber-crime in India has been increasing at an alarming rate, it is almost doubled in 2017, as per the data unveiled by NCRB. This unbelievable statistics comes at a time when India is hoping to become a trillion dollar digital economy. In 2015 with the launch of the Digital India programme, the central government assured people to transform India into a cashless economy. But cases of fraud in cyber-crime have reached 56 percent, sexual exploitation with 6.7 percent and causing disrepute with 4.6 percent. Most of the cyber-crime cases were unnoticed in the country.
Crime against SC & ST
Incidents of crime against Scheduled Caste (SC) has gone up from 5,082 in 2016 to 5,775 in 2017. Meanwhile crime related to Scheduled Tribes (ST) has dropped from 844 in 2016 to 720 in 2017.
Kidnapping on rise
Although cases of kidnapping and abduction showing an increase of 9 percent. In 2017 total 95,893 cases of kidnapping and abduction were reported in the comparison to 88,008 in 2016.
Crime across the country has been speeding up. Different types of atrocities are flourishing. Most people are frightened from the core of the heart. There is no safety of life and property in such an atmosphere. Cases of lynching and attack on journalists have jumped in recent times.The gloomy picture of crime has disheartened the law abiding citizens of the nation. In spite of this surprisingly central and state governments are claiming that crime rate is under control.
