A Violent India: NCRB Data Shows Crime on the Rise
NCRB data needs attention as statistics not only show an increase in crime, they also point fingers at policing.
advertisement
Some Hits, Some Misses
- NCRB data based on statistics of police force across the country is dubious due to selective reporting
- Increase in violence evident from the data, with 5,000 cases of murder being reported from UP alone
- Involvement of firearm being reported is worrisome since 85% of the weapons located were unlicensed
- 7% increase in incidents of rape since 2013 may be attributed to better reporting or liberal registration by the police
- Rise of cybercrime adds to the many challenges of the police force
India is one country which reports a lot of crime – with a crime rate of 581.1 per 100,000 of the population – but whose lawmakers hardly discuss it, except when a monstrosity like Nirbhaya or Aarushi takes place. There is a general smugness within Parliament and state legislatures that is not merely distressing. It is culpable to the core.
We are again a country where crime is not a subject of debate before a general election. This is in stark contrast to what happens in the US or the UK, two democracies with which alone a comparison with India is most appropriate. A government in any country that fails to control crime – not merely in terms of statistics, but in respect of perceptions as well – is usually pilloried, and the party that runs it is invariably punished at the hustings.
In India we have no such debate, and the police, as long as they keep the party in power in good humour, can get away with even murder. This is the appalling scene and there are no signs that this will change in the decades to come, unless there is a massive mobilisation of public opinion that compels politicians to show more activism in crime control.
Scholarly Interest in Crime
One positive feature of the Indian scene, however, is the enormous scholarly interest, not only domestically but from international researchers as well, in studying crime trends. Generally speaking, apart from anything else, inputs on the subject provide guidance to foreign investors in their due diligence exercises.
In this context the annual publication of ‘Crime in India’, published by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) is a useful and weighty document that deserves serious attention. I recall how shabby and inadequate this report was, until a decade ago. It is now a carefully assembled analytical document that has acquired reasonable credibility for its objective presentation of facts and figures.
It is an entirely different matter that the statistics received from police forces from the 29 states and seven Union Territories used by this digest are highly dubious and suspect, because both reporting and registration of crimes across the country are selective. Repeated dressing down of police agencies by the judiciary for burking crime have had only a marginal impact on the extent of this evil. Rural illiteracy and a tradition against admission of victimisation (especially violation of womanhood) compound police corruption and the reluctance to freely register crimes.
Political Connivance
There is the additional factor of political connivance, because no government wants to admit that crime went up under its regime compared to its predecessor. I know of a few enlightened police chiefs in the past losing their job only because of an upright but impolitic direction to the field staff to freely register all the crimes reported at police stations.
The crime rate for 100,000 of the population – a universal yardstick – for last year for IPC offences alone was 229.2, showing a 6% rise over the previous year.
The common man is worried mainly about personal safety and security of his home and property. This is why offences such as homicides and grievous injury assume a lot of importance. There were 33,981 murders in 2014 as against 32,613, during 2013, showing a 4% increase. On an average, the country has been registering about 30,000 murders annually for nearly a decade.
The general belief is that homicides are difficult to suppress without drawing police attention, and the numbers on record are therefore reasonably accurate. There is one caveat, however. Every year, several thousand dead bodies go unidentified (in 2013 the number was 35,735). Not all could be victims of enmity. A fair percentage could, however, be categorised as suspicious death. This raises suspicion of police connivance or indifference to murders, which is difficult to ignore. Also significant is that attempts to murder were 41,791 during the past year.
Use of Firearms
Perhaps the most worrying facet of the scene is that a firearm was involved in the murder of more than 3,600 victims. Nearly 85% of the weapons located were unlicensed. The futility of a rigid licensing system that we have on paper is thereby greatly exposed. This is in stark contrast to the US where licensed firearms themselves are misused to commit crime.
We are becoming more violent by the day, with a police force that is losing control over the underworld manipulated often by small time politicians. Events in UP alone (about 5,000 cases each of murder and its attempt in 2014) testify to this.
Rise in Rape and Poor Investigation
A civilised nation should be overly concerned about the safety of its women. We certainly are. Egged on by a rising crime graph and individual outrages such as Nirbhaya, and supported by a watchful media, there is certainly a greater sensitivity to violence against women. This may not be out of enlightenment. The fear of regressive departmental action is a definite deterrent. There were 34,530 rapes during 2014, a 7% increase over 2013. This is not a negligible rise. It may be attributed to better reporting or a more liberal registration by the police.
There is, however, a nagging suspicion that not all rapes are reported or registered, even after reporting. The reluctance to approach the police is traceable to the social stigma that attaches to a rape victim. This is especially true of rural India. The scene is only a shade different elsewhere.
But what we should be worried about more is the poor quality of police investigation – both due to low professionalism and connivance with a moneyed aggressor – and the consequent low rate of success in rape prosecution. The charge that a trial court is often compromised by an influential accused and a slothful public prosecutor is hard to ignore. As long as this situation remains, our women are at the mercy of predators. Only a vigilant media and a conscientious police leadership can bring about a sea change. Things are improving, but at a snail’s pace.
No Political Will to Curb Crime
Property offences (theft, housebreaking and robbery) account for about 20% of all cognizable cases registered by the police. A rate of 48 offences per 100,000 of the population seems an absurdity. But this is what ‘Crime in India’ tells us. How many of us bother to report a loss to the police? Both cynicism and an acute lack of faith in the police’s capacity to unravel an offence against property account for this.
To sum up, there are signs that we are slipping up on the crime front, because of no new ideas and no visible political will to contain day-to-day crime. The situation may not be alarming, but is certainly a matter of concern, particularly in burgeoning cities where the youth are under extreme stress, either unable to get jobs or are finding it difficult to hold on to existing jobs. Both trigger crime, violent as well as white collar.
The rise of cybercrime has added a new dimension to investigative work. Only a small percentage of the police force is equal to the task. It is against this complexity that we will have to design an imaginative blueprint that would offer substantial relief from crime to the common man.
(The writer is a former CBI Director)
(This article is the first of a two-part series on recently released NCRB data)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)