News Analysis India

Tag: NCRB

  • Crimes against women, children drop in 2020; disobedience cases go up drastically: NCRB

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdown resulted in a drop in traditional crimes like theft, robbery, and assault on women and children in 2020, but there was a drastic jump in disobedience to government orders, primarily arising due to violations of COVID-19 norms, official data showed.

    According to the latest report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) on ‘Crime in India – 2020’, a total of 66,01,285 cognisable crimes comprising 42,54,356 Indian Penal Code (IPC) crimes and 23,46,929 Special and Local Laws (SLL) crimes were registered in 2020.

    It shows an increase of 14,45,127 (28 per cent) in registration of cases over 2019 (51,56,158 cases), while the crime rate registered per lakh population increased from 385.5 in 2019 to 487.8 in 2020.

    During 2020, registration of cases under IPC increased by 31.9 per cent whereas SLL crimes rose by 21.6 per cent over 2019.

    Percentage share of IPC cases was 64.4 per cent while that of SLL cases was 35.6 per cent of total cognisable crimes during 2020.

    Major increase was seen in the cases registered under disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant from 29,469 cases in 2019 to 6,12,179 cases in 2020 and under ‘other IPC crimes’ from 2,52,268 cases in 2019 to 10,62,399 cases in 2020, the report said.

    Similarly, under SLL category, more cases were registered under ‘other state local acts’ — from 89,553 in 2019 to 4,14,589 in 2020.

    These together have resulted in 16,43,690 more cases registered in 2020 as compared to 2019.

    “These cases are primarily those arising out of violations of Covid norms. Effectively therefore, there is a decrease in registration of traditional crime by about two lakh cases,” it said.

    During 2020, a total of 55,84,135 IPC cases (13,27,167 cases pending from previous year, 42,54,356 reported during the year and 2,612 cases re-opened for investigation) were under investigation, of which 34,47,285 cases were disposed of by police including 26,11,925 cases which were charge-sheeted, resulting in the charge-sheeting rate of 75.8 per cent.

    The country remained under complete lockdown from March 25 to May 31, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic (first wave), during which movement in public space was very limited.

    The cases registered under crimes against women, children, and senior citizens, theft, burglary, robbery and dacoity declined, whereas Covid-related enforcement resulted in an increase of cases registered under ‘disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant (Sec.

    188 IPC)’, under ‘other IPC crimes’ and under ‘other state local acts’, it said.

    A total of 10,47,216 cases of offences affecting the human body were registered which accounted for 24.6 per cent of the total IPC crimes during 2020, of which hurt (5,78,641 cases) accounted for the maximum cases — 55.3 per cent — followed by cases of causing death by negligence (1,26,779 or 12.1 per cent) and cases of assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty (85,392 or 8.2 per cent).

    The cases registered under offences against human body depict a marginal decrease of 0.5 per cent in 2020 over 2019 (10,52,016 cases) and the crime rate has declined from 78.6 in 2019 to 77.4 in 2020.

    A total of 29,193 cases of murder were registered during 2020, showing a marginal increase of 1 per cent over 2019 (28,915 cases) with ‘disputes’ (10,404 cases) being the motive in the maximum cases followed by ‘personal vendetta or enmity’ (4,034 cases) and ‘gain’ (1,876 cases).

    A total of 84,805 cases of kidnapping and abduction were registered during 2020, showing a decrease of 19.3 per cent over 2019 (1,05,036 cases).

    A total of 88,590 people (14,869 males and 73,721 females) were reported kidnapped or abducted during 2020, of which 56,591 (8,715 males and 47,876 females) victims were children and 31,999 (6,154 males and 25,845 females) were adult.

    During 2020, a total of 91,739 kidnapped or abducted people (22,872 males and 68,867 females) were rescued, of which 91,458 people were rescued alive and 281 found dead.

    A total of 3,71,503 cases of crime against women were registered during 2020, showing a decline of 8.3 per cent over 2019 (4,05,326 cases).

    Majority of crimes against women under IPC were registered under ‘cruelty by husband or his relatives’ (30 per cent) followed by ‘assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty’ (23 per cent), ‘kidnapping and abduction of women’ (16.8 per cent) and ‘rape’ (7.5 per cent).

    A total of 1,28,531 cases of crime against children were registered during 2020, showing a decrease of 13.2 per cent over 2019 (1,48,090 cases).

    In percentage terms, major crime heads under ‘crime against children’ during 2020 were kidnapping and abduction (42.6 per cent) and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (38.8 per cent) including child rape.

    A total of 29,768 cases were registered against juveniles during 2020, depicting a decrease of 7.8 per cent over 2019 (32,269 cases).

    The crime rate also depicts a decrease from 7.2 in 2019 to 6.7 in 2020.

    A total of 35,352 juveniles were apprehended in 29,768 cases, of which 31,618 juveniles were apprehended under cases of IPC and 3,734 under cases of SLL during 2020.

  • SC/ST atrocities cases increased by 11.46% in 2019 from previous year: Minister Ramdas Athawale

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The number of cases related to atrocities on Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes communities in 2018 decreased approximately by 11.15 per cent from the year 2017, but increased by 11.46 per cent in 2019 from the previous year, the Centre said on Wednesday.

    In a written response in Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale also said that the central government has been reviewing with the law implementing agencies of state governments for ensuring prompt registering of atrocities, speedy investigation of the offences and timely dispensing of cases by the courts.

    “The atrocity cases against SC/STs in the year 2018 decreased approximately by 11.15 per cent from the year 2017, but increased by 11.46 per cent in the year 2019 from the previous year,” he said.

    According to the National Crime Records Bureau data shared by him, in 2019, a total of 49,608 such cases were registered under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in conjunction with IPC, while 44,505 cases were registered in 2018 and 50,094 cases in 2017.

    Further, the government has issued advisories to the state governments/UT administrations from time to time for effective implementation of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 and rules, the minister added.

  • Vinod Dua sedition case: SC verdict relief for others facing similiar charges

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI: With the Supreme Court quashing the FIR on sedition and other charges against senior journalist Vinod Dua, many journalists who have been at the wrong end of this law can expect relief on similar grounds.

    According to legal experts, Thursday’s ruling will come as a relief for journalists facing sedition cases. Interestingly, another bench of the Supreme Court has already issued a notice on a set of other petitions to examine the interpretation of the sedition law, particularly in the light of media rights and freedom of speech.

    “Today’s judgement will be a precedent for other pending cases. Moreover, the court in previous cases had decided to examine the law which will directly impact the ongoing cases. It will be interesting to see if the court examines the law clause by clause so that enough checks and balances will be in place and its misuse can be minimised,” said Supreme Court advocate Ashish Singh.

    Section 124A of the IPC describes sedition as punishable with imprisonment from three years to a lifetime, a fine, or both. Uttar Pradesh has filed over 22 sedition cases in the wake of a sexual assault in Hathras last year. Among them is Kerala-based scribe Siddique Kappan.

    According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), conviction rate in sedition cases was 3.3 per cent in 2019. Earlier this year, such cases were filed against journalists Mrinal Pande, Rajdeep Sardesai, Vinod Jose, Zafar Agha, Paresh Nath and Anant Nath for sedition, among other charges, after the farmers’ tractor rally in Delhi on Republic Day. The top court has stayed the arrest of all of them.

    Two journalists from Manipur were slapped with NSA and sedition charges. In 2018, Law Commission of India stated that for expressing a thought not in consonance with the government’s policy a person should not be charged under sedition.

  • Plea in SC seeking guidelines for compensation to victims of wrongful prosecutions

    By ANI
    NEW DELHI: A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking direction to the Central government to frame guidelines for compensation to victims of wrongful prosecutions.

    The petition filed by advocate Ashwini Upadhyay said alternatively, being a custodian of the Constitution and protector of the right to life, liberty and dignity, the Court may use its plenary constitutional power to frame the guidelines for compensation to victims of wrongful prosecutions.

    “There has been a spurt in false cases. Wrongful prosecution and incarceration of innocent persons with no effective statutory and legal mechanism available to the innocent persons to address the same, is causing ‘miscarriage of justice’ and has created a black-hole in the criminal jurisprudence of our Country,” the petition added.

    The petitioner said the facts constituting a cause of action accrued on January 28 this year when the Allahabad High Court declared one, Vishnu Tiwari, innocent and observed that the motive of the FIR was a land dispute. Vishnu was arrested on September 16, 2000, after being booked for rape and atrocities under the SC/ST Act and was in jail for 20 years.

    The Allahabad High Court acquitted Vishnu Tiwari, who spent 20 years in jail on rape charges with no compensation awarded, ignoring even the public law remedy which shows the necessity of effective compensation and legal mechanism for malicious prosecutions and the wrongful incarceration of innocents, the PIL said.

    The injury caused to the citizens is extremely large because due to the Centre’s inaction, citizens’ right to life, liberty and dignity, guaranteed under Article 21, is being brazenly offended, it added.

    The petition further said that it is necessary to state that the High Court of Delhi, while dealing with an appeal on the issues of fines and awarding of default sentences without reasoning and suspension of sentence during the pendency of the appeal, expressed its concerns about wrongful implications of innocent persons who are acquitted after long years of incarceration, and the lack of a legislative framework to provide relief to those who are wrongfully prosecuted.

    The High Court, on November 30, 2017, directed the Law Commission of India to undertake a comprehensive examination of the issue of relief and rehabilitation to victims of wrongful prosecution and incarceration and the Law Commission submitted its report on August 30, 2018, but Centre has not taken appropriate steps to implement the recommendations, it said.

    The plea also sought directions to implement the recommendations of the Law Commission’s report.

    It further pointed out to the NCRB Annual Statistical Report called Prison Statistics India (PSI) which contains information with respect to prisons, prisoners, and prison infrastructure.

    “According to PSI 2015, there were 4,19,623 prisoners across the country out of which, 67.2 per cent i.e. 2,82,076 were under trial; substantially higher than the convict population i.e. 1,34,168 (32.0 per cent). A review of the data in PSI shows that across the country as well as in States, under trial prisoners continue to be higher in numbers than the convict population,” the plea submitted.

    “Due to no fear of being prosecuted by Courts and growing tendency to frame innocents for ulterior motives, there has been an unprecedented surge in filing of false cases these days by vengeful vexatious complainants who falsely implicate innocents who are acquitted after a protracted trial and have to bear the ignominy of society with no compensatory mechanism. The legal remedies available under the existing legal system and the mechanism of compensation for miscarriage of justice resulting in wrongful prosecution remain complex and uncertain,” it added.

    Apart from very few cases in which the compensation was fixed at Rs 50,000, there are no statutory or legal schemes articulating State’s affective response to compensate the victims.  

  • 4 children denied justice in sexual abuse cases everyday due to insufficient evidence: Study

    In 2019, 43 per cent of cases were closed by police on this ground as per the final reports filed in court, the study said.