The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB)

The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) released its 2017 data for crime in India on October 21.

KEY FINDINGS OF THE REPORT:

The data, delayed by about a year, presents some interesting findings.

1. Data that was supposed to be published under the new sub-heads of mob lynching, murder by influential people, killing ordered by khap panchayats and murder committed for religious reasons is missing.
2. A new category of offences under the aegis of "Anti-National Elements",shows that the maximum number of offences were committed by Left Wing Extremist (LEW) operatives, insurgents in the Northeast and terrorists.
3. Crime Registration and Rate:

• In 2017, there was an increase of 3.6% in registration of cases over 2016.
• Delhi witnessed the highest crime rate in the country with 1,050 Indian Penal Code (IPC) crime incidents per lakh of the city’s population.
• This was over four times the national average of 238.

4. Crime Against Women:

• The number of crimes committed against women increased by 6% over the year 2016.
• Majority cases were registered under ‘Cruelty by Husband or His Relatives’ followed by ‘Assault on Women with Intent to Outrage her Modesty’.
• The maximum cases were registered in Uttar Pradesh (UP) followed by Maharashtra and West Bengal.

5. Crime Against SC/STs:

• The incidents registered under the Scheduled Caste Prevention of Atrocities Act saw an increase from 5,082 incidents reportedin 2016 to 5,775 in 2017.
• Incidents of crime related to Scheduled Tribes dipped from 844 in 2016 to 720 in 2017.

6. Riots:

• Out of the total 58,880 incidents of rioting reported, communal and sectarian riots accounted for 723 and 183 incidents respectively.
• There were 805 riots due to caste conflict and 1909 riots due to political reasons.
• Maximum incidents were reported from Bihar, followed by Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.

7. Cyber Crimes:

• Fraudulent transactions and sexual exploitationwere the most reported cyber crimes in India in 2017.
• Cyber fraudsaccounted for the highest number of individual reports on cybercrime, followed by cases of cybercrime in the form of sexual exploitation.
• Assam,which has recorded higher number of cyber crimes than other states in the region, sexual exploitation and personal revenge were the prime reasons.
• Bengaluru topped the listamong metropolitan cities across the country in terms of number of cyber crimes registered.
• Bengaluru was followed by Mumabi and Jaipur.

8. Offences against the state:

• As compared to 2016, there has been a 30 percent rise in incidents of offences against the state. Sedition, waging war against country and damage to public property are among the offences included under this category.
• Interestingly, the maximum number of such offences were recorded from Haryana while the minimum number of such cases were recorded from Jammu and Kashmir(J&K).
• Haryana registered 13 cases of sedition— second after Assam, which registered 19— while only one case of sedition was recorded in J&K.