CRIME IN INDIA 2019: NCRB
WHY IN NEWS?
- The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has released the annual Crime in India 2019 report.
- It reports an increase in crimes against Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) in the year 2019 as compared to the year 2018.
KEY POINTS
CRIMES AGAINST SCS AND STS:
- Crime against SCs have increased by over 7% and crimes against STs have increased by 26% in year 2019 compared to 2018.
- Uttar Pradesh recorded the highest number of crimes against SCs in 2019, followed by Rajasthan and Bihar.
- Madhya Pradesh recorded the highest number of cases against STs, followed by Rajasthan, and Odisha.
- Categories: Crimes against SCs and
- STs include the following categories:
- Atrocities committed by non-SC/ST members under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities Act), 1989 (POA Act)
- Indian Penal Code
- Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955 : It prescribes punishment for the preaching and practice of Untouchability.
- Lack of Data
- According to the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), very few cases were being registered for specific discriminatory action against SCs and STs under the POA Act.
- Such actions are registered mainly when accompanied by any of the IPC offences liek rape, murders etc.
- Also, there is no data on total complaints received on crimes against the Scheduled Castes, the only data available is the number of cases registered.
NATIONAL CRIME RECORD BUREAU
- NCRB, headquartered in New Delhi, was set-up in 1986 under the Ministry of Home Affairs to function as a repository of information on crime and criminals so as to assist the investigators in linking crime to the perpetrators.
- It was set up based on the recommendations of the National Police Commission (1977-1981) and the MHA’s Task Force (1985).
- NCRB brings out the annual comprehensive statistics of crime across the country (‘Crime in India’ report).
DATA ON OTHER CRIMES
- Cognizable Crimes: An increase of 1.6% in registration of cognizable crimes in 2019 as compared to 2018 was recorded. Cognizable crimes comprise Indian Penal Code (IPC) ones and Special and Local Laws (SLL) crimes.
- Cognisable offence means an offence in which a police officer has the authority to make an arrest without a warrant.
- SLL are Acts that are framed by the state government for specific issues.
- Crimes Against Women: Crime against women showed an increase of 7.3% in 2019 from 2018.
- 88 cases of crimes against women were recorded per day.
- Majority of cases under crime against women under IPC were registered under cruelty by husband or his relatives (30.9%), followed by assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty, kidnapping & abduction of women and rape .
- In the number of cases of rape of women belonging to SCs, Rajasthan topped the list, followed by Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
- Cybercrimes: Increased by 63.5% in 2019.
60.4% of cybercrime cases registered were for the motive of fraud followed by sexual exploitation.