Lucknow- The NCRB (National Crime Records Bureau) revealed its annual data for 2022 earlier this month. The report titled “Crime in India for 2022” noted that there were a total 58 lakh cases registered in 2022 under both the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the SLL (Specialised Local Laws). The crime rate per lakh population dropped from 445.9 in 2021 to 422.2 in 2022.

Upward Trajectory of Crime Against Dalit

Uttar Pradesh topped the list of states with crimes against Dalits as the state reported 15,368 crimes against the Scheduled Castes in 2022, which accounts for roughly 28% of the crimes committed against the scheduled castes across the country as total 57,428 crimes were committed against Dalits in 2022, all over India higher than 50,744 in 2021 and 50,202 in 2020. While Madhya Pradesh recorded the largest number of crimes against the Scheduled Tribes for three years running: from 2020 to 2022.  At 15,368 cases the state registered more than 40 cases of atrocities against Dalits daily.

Further, if we Analyse the figure of four years from 2019, the crimes against Dalits in the state have seen an upward trajectory with 11,829 (2019), 12,714 (2020) and 13,146 (2021) cases in respective year and even in 2019 there was only a negligible decline from 11, 924 cases in 2018.

An analysis from 2018-2021 reveals the fact that out of the total 1.9 lakh cases of crime against Dalits in that period, Uttar Pradesh accounted for more than 25% of the total cases against Dalits in the country. At around 27%, the share of Uttar Pradesh has only seen an uptick trend.

Uttar Pradesh is followed by Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Police and public order are the state subject under the 7^th Schedule of the constitution.  

Crime Against Women: A Discouraging Statistics

At 4.01 lakh cases of crime registered under different sections of Indian Penal Code and other laws Uttar Pradesh topped the crime charts of the country.

Also Uttar Pradesh registered the most FIRs of crime against women with 65, 473 cases followed by Maharashtra (45,331). UP witnessed an uptick in crime against women if we compare it to 56,083 cases against women in 2021. The NCRB data reported around 4.45 lakh cases of crime against women all over the country.

Another startling figures regarding the crime against women in Uttar Pradesh was that it topped the list of cases of gangrape with 62 cases, followed by Madhya Pradesh at 41 cases, the state however reported second highest cases of rape with 3690 cases of rape with only Rajasthan registering more cases at 5399 cases. Reflecting a disturbing trend, the data showed that with 2138 dowry deaths, the state topped the charts.

Positive side: UP saw highest convictions

The NCRB report also gave the opportunity to the UP government to pat its own back as they cited the high conviction rate of around 71% in cases related to crime against women.

In a statement Prashant kumar, Special Director General said that the results of inter-department efforts are showing in the NCRB data. “If we see all the IPC crimes, then 11.28 per cent of crimes in India have happened in UP. In the rankings of states, we are ranked 20… If we talk of the crime rate, then 19 states have fared worse than UP. In terms of serious crimes like murder, we are ranked 28. In attempt to murder cases, we are ranked 25. In eve-teasing cases, we are ranked 17. In cases of kidnapping for ransom, UP is ranked 30. In cases of rape, we are 24. In robbery cases, we are 27. It shows that the police have done good work, and the results are here,” said Kumar.

SC/ST/OBC most vulnerable to Crime

The Mooknayak spoke to Ameeq  Jamai, National President of Samajwadi Party for his reaction, he said, The Yogi Adityanath government should not compare the data with the crime rate of Bangladesh and Pakistan, the NCRB data is the data sent by the DGP office of the state. The State is ranking is top in crime, second in rapes cases after Rajasthan, top in sexual crime against children. During the SP rule Police force was provided with the most advanced system of dial 100 in which the police response time was 8 minutes which is more than 1 hour today. We launched 1090 and separated it from the police station because in the patriarchial system the case is aborted at the station itself, but in this system, FIR was done on call. But the system has been collapsed by the Yogi government. He mentioned that SC/ST/OBC are most vulnerable to crime because the stations are run by the support of BJP, alluding to fake encounters he pointed out that in Agra two police men were arrested who said that they did the encounters at the behest of BJP leaders.

The Mooknayak tried to reach out to BSP leaders for their comments, but they were unwilling to speak.