What changed in the NCRB’s ‘Crime in India’ report 2017?
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
November 14, 2019
Every
year, the NCRB includes, excludes & merges some of the data in its flagship
publications like the ‘Crime in India’ report. Here is a look at what is new
and what is excluded in the 2017 report.
The Crime in India(CII) report of 2017 (65 Edition) was finally released by the National Crime Records
Bureau (NCRB) on 21 October 2019 after adelay of around 22 months. As noted in a previous
article by Factly, the CII report wasreleased after an average delay of 11 months since the year 2000. In otherwords, the 2017 report took almost double the time than it took for the similarreports since 2000.
The CII report hasbeen published since 1954 by the NCRB which works under the aegis of HomeMinistry. The Crime in India report is significant because it represents thestate of crimes, law and order in the country. Other than this, two other reports
are also released by the bureau,Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India (ADSI) and Prison Statistics India(PSI). The delay in releasing the report led to a lot of criticism and raisedmany doubts on whether the government was deliberately holding it back.
One of the mainreasons behind this delay as stated by Home Ministry is that ‘comprehensiverevision’ of the reporting in order to include more categories of crime accordingto a newspaper
report. The report is modified as and whennecessary so that it considers evolving crimes and to include new categories.Detailed recording of data makes it more comprehensive for parliamentarians,policy makers, researchers and others who use the data. In this story, we lookat the changes made in the latest report compared to the previous report.
A new table that provides data on Rape cases in custody
has been introduced
In the 2017 CIIreport, the bureau has focused on collecting detailed information on crimesagainst women and children. A new table on sub-section
wise registration of rape cases (Section 376) has been introduced in the CII report. Rape cases in custody(Section 376 (2) a-e)) by police personnel, public servant, armed forcesmember, jail staff, hospital staff and others have been tabulated. A few othernon-custodial rape cases (Section 376 (2) f, h-n) included in the table areoffence on pregnant women, women with disability and women below 16 years ofage. Data on cases registered under Section 376 (A to E) which deal with repeatoffenders, gang rape and rape by separated husband are also given in the table.
New Table with age profile and crime head wise details
of cases registered under POCSO
Under the sectionon Crimes against Children, data has been shared on the basis of age
profile of victims in the cases bookedunder the Protection
Of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO). Up to 6 years, 6 to 12 years, 12 to 16 years and 16 to 18 years arethe different categories. Another table has been added for cases registeredunder Section
4 and 6 of POCSO act based on the offender’srelationship with the child victim.
Cyber-crimes targeting Women and Children incorporated
in 2017 report
Internet andsocial media usage are rampant in this age & time. Cyber-crime cases areonly increasing with every passing day. Taking this into consideration, animportant addition made to the list of crimes is the details of cyber-crimesagainst women and children.Detailed cyber-crime statistics under the crime heads ofblackmailing/threatening, stalking, defamation, fake profiles and other cyber-crimestargeting women and children covered under the Information
and Technology Act of 2000 have beenrecorded. In addition to this, records of online frauds, circulation fake newsand more have been incorporated in the report.
More detailed breakup of cases booked under the ‘SC/ST
Prevention of Atrocities act’
A more detailedbreakup of the offences registered under the Scheduled
Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act is given in the 2017 report. Crime
heads in this section include murder,murder attempt, simple and grievous hurt such as acid attack, assault on womenand children, social boycott and more.
Crimes by ‘Anti-National elements’ recorded in detail
The tables underthe head of offences against the state in the 2016 report have beenrestructured and rearranged in the current report. A new section on crimes committedby anti-national elements has been introduced which gives information regardingthe crimes reported against North East insurgents, Naxalites and Left-WingExtremists and terrorists. All such elements have been termed as‘anti-national’ in the report. Number of cases registered, location ofincident, number of civilians and police/defence personnel injured, andoffender details have been recorded here. Arms and other items of police/ defencepersonnel stolen by such anti-national elements and recovered from them havealso been given in detail.
Injuries and deaths of police officers, as well as civilians as a result of police operations involving anti-nationals, riots and dacoity, border crossfires and accidental killings, have been recorded in detail unlike in 2016 when only number of deaths and injuries were given without mentioning the reason behind it. The number of people arrested under the code of criminal procedure and those detained to prevent them from committing crimes on the grounds of suspicion has been categorised as per the crime-head. Country wise statistics of foreign offenders as well as foreign victims registered under different crime heads has also been included in the 2017 CII report.
The report has details on pendency of cases and
duration of pendency
Delay in justiceis yet another prominent section that has been included in the 2017
report. Period of pendency of cases incourts and police stations and pendency in investigation have been recordedthis year unlike the previous year where only number of cases were given. Timetaken for submitting charge sheets and final reports in both IPC & SLLcrimes have been enumerated for different crime heads.
In addition to thecategories mentioned above, the 2017 report has also collected
data on various Special Local Laws suchas The Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, The Food Safety & StandardsAct, Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), The Chit Fund Act andmore. Most of these were clubbed under ‘Other SLL crimes’ in the 2016 report.
Some tables have been merged
‘The Prevention ofCorruption Act of 1988’ criminalises corruption. Data was compiled under theheads of action taken by courts and action taken by the department in which theoffender worked. The two tables have been combined into one in CII 2017. Similarly,tables on recidivism against juveniles and other persons have been combined.
Data on over 25 categories has been withheld as per reports
The table onvictims murdered by firearms has been omitted in the 2017 report. The table haddetails regarding the number of murders that took place in the year whichinvolved usage of licensed and unlicensed firearms.
The Home Ministryhas claimed that the bureau had collected details on cow slaughter, moblynching and hate crimes. But the data collected was vague
and unreliable because of which it wasexcluded from the report. Newspaper reports suggest that the ministry omitted around 25 categories of crime such as crimesagainst journalists, RTI activists, whistle-blowers and others who are prone tobe attacked. Details of crimes committed by religious preachers, khappanchayats, illegal migrants, servants, security and many others have also notbeen added in the report.
Issues with the methodology & delay
The data in theNCRB report is based on ‘Principle Offence Rule’, which means among manyoffences registered in a single FIR case, only most heinous crime (maximumpunishment) will be considered as counting unit for the purpose of datacollection. However, for crimes against children, women, SC/ST and a few othersimilar cases, the rule is not followed.
Anothershortcoming is that the population projections used are outdated. For instance,general population, population of women and children is estimated on the basisof 2001 census by the Registrar General of India.
Like justicedelayed is justice denied, the delay in the release of such important datamakes the data less useful. The NCRB which released the CII report for 2010 to2015 within 6 months has taken more than 22 months for the 2017 report. Thisdelay is also a cause for concern.