Representative image for crime.
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New Delhi: Crime against Scheduled Tribes rose by around 29% riding on an increase in cases from one to 3,339 in 2023 in ethnic violence-hit Manipur, even as 15 states and union territories saw a decrease and ten others reported not a single incident.
However, the disposal of cases by police and judiciary have not gathered pace with a report showing that the investigations in 42.7% of cases are pending while 93% cases under trial were not concluded. In Manipur, 99.3% cases were pending while none of the cases on trial saw a conclusion.
The Crime in India 2023 report by National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), which was released on Monday, showed that there were 12,960 cases of crime against 13,740 STs reported, which was an increase of 28.8% from 10,064 cases in 2022. In 2021, there were 8,802 cases.
Manipur, which had just one case in 2022 and none in 2021 and has been witnessing ethnic violence since May 2023, topped the list with 3,408 victims in 3,339 incidents followed by Madhya Pradesh (2,934 victims in 2,858 instances) and Rajasthan (2,817 victims in 2,453 cases).
During 2023, Karnataka registered 434 cases in which 596 people were victims. Karnataka had 361 cases in 2021 and 438 in 2022.
When it comes to disposal of cases by police, the report showed that police across India were investigating 14,815 cases of crime against STs in 2023, which included 2,701 pending cases from previous years. Chargesheet were submitted in 7,427 cases (79.5%) while pendency of probe was 42.7%.
In Manipur, the police were investigating 3,405 cases, including six pending cases from years prior to 2023. Police disposed of only 24 cases and chargesheets were filed in just five cases (20%), all 2023 cases, while a whopping 3,381 cases remained pending.
Most of the cases registered in Manipur in 2023 were related to rioting (1,542), arson (1,051), dacoity (260) and occupying or disposing of land belonging to STs (193).
There were 52,896 cases of crime against STs for trial in courts across India of which 49,189 or 93% were pending at the end of 2023. Trial was completed in 3,665 with conviction in 901 cases or 24.6%.
If one takes Manipur, only eight cases were on trial and none of them were concluded. Fifteen people had been arrested in Manipur during 2023 for crime against STs.
On crime against Dalits, the report showed that 57,789 cases were registered, which was an increase of 0.4% over 2022 when 57,582 cases were reported. Crime rate registered showed an increase from 28.6 per one lakh population in 2022 to 28.7 in 2023.
Highest number of cases (18,437 or 31.9%) were registered under simple hurt followed by cases under criminal intimidation with 7.8% (4,486 cases) and SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act with 7.5% or 4,345 cases.
The country also reported 27,721 cases of murder in 2023, a decrease of 2.8% from 2022 while cybercrimes saw a 31.2% hike with 86,420 cases, as compared to 65,893 in 2022.