Context

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

About

What are the categories of the data? The NCRB has introduced more than three dozen new categories and sub-categories of crimes under various heads. At least four categories where significant diversification of data can be seen are – Crimes against women and children Atrocities against Dalits Cases of corruption Time taken by police and courts to take cases to their conclusion For the first time, the NCRB has introduced categories of cyber crimes against women and children. In the case of Dalits, the NCRB has for the first time published data on offences registered solely under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The further categorisation under this includes insult, land grab and social ostracism. The NCRB has also recorded cases of disproportionate assets against public servants. The other heads include abetment, criminal intimidation, simple hurt, credit/debit card and online frauds, Internet crimes through online gaming and kidnapping for begging among others. Importantly, for the first time, the NCRB has dwelt on not just pendency of cases (with the police and courts) but also the period of such pendency.

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.