The data does not support the controversial theory that caste identities matter less in urban areas.
Representational image. Credit: Reuters
New Delhi: The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report on crime in 2016, released on Thursday (November 20) has reiterated certain popular beliefs while negating others. For the first time this year, the NCRB has released not just state-wise data, but also specific data on metropolitan cities.
The data does not support the controversial theory that caste identities matter less in urban areas. In fact, the rate of atrocities against Dalits in cities mirrors the surrounding rural areas, the Indian Express reported. Uttar Pradesh reported the highest number of atrocities against Dalits, the NCRB data shows, at 25.6% of all cases reported. Bihar (14%) and Rajasthan (12.6%) followed. The numbers of cities followed a similar pattern, with Lucknow reporting the highest number of atrocities reported among the 19 metropolitan cities, and Patna and Jaipur following.
“The only anomaly was Bengaluru, which reported 207 cases, or 13% of all cases in the 19 cities. Comparatively, Karnataka reported 1,869 such incidents, accounting for just 4.3% of all such crimes in the country,” the Indian Express report said.
The data released by the NCRB only reflects the number of cases that have been registered with the police.
While Madhya Pradesh ranked fourth in terms of the number of crimes, it came in first on the crime rate (which takes into account the SC population in the state).
In all of India, 40,801 atrocities against Dalits were reported in 2016, up from 38,670 in 2015.
The NCRB data also brought out that most of the crimes against SCs reported were crimes against women, including assault, sexual harassment, stalking, voyeurism and insult to modesty.
Crimes against women
On crimes against women as a whole, Delhi ranked first in terms of the crime rate against women. A total of 15,310 cases were reported in the union territory in 2016, down from 17,222 in 2015.
“Uttar Pradesh reported 14.5% (49,262 out of 3,38,954 cases) of total cases of crimes against women followed by West Bengal (9.6%) (32,513 cases) during 2016. Delhi UT reported the highest crime rate (160.4) compared to the national average rate of 55.2,” the NCRB report says. “Majority of cases under crimes against women were reported under ‘Cruelty by Husband or His Relatives’ (32.6%) followed by ‘Assault on Women with Intent to Outrage her Modesty’ (25.0%), ‘Kidnaping & Abduction of Women’ (19.0%) and ‘Rape’ (11.5%). ”
In the city of Delhi – which also reported the highest number of crimes against women among the 19 metropolitan cities – 13,803 crimes against women were reported in 2016. Mumbai came in second, with 5,128 cases reported.
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