Communal, racial crimes see 41 per cent rise in three years: Govt

The number of offences promoting enmity on communal and racial lines have gone up by 41 per cent in the country in the last three years, the government told the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, presented by Minister of state for home affairs Hansraj Gangaram Ahir, 336 cases related to offences promoting enmity between different groups on the ground of religion, race, place of birth were registered in 2014, which have risen to 475 in the year 2016, an increase of over 41 per cent.

In the states, a rise of 49 per cent of such cases were registered during this period. In 2014, 318 such cases were reported from states which went up to 474 in 2016, while in Union Territories, including Delhi, these incidents dipped from 18 in 2014 to just one in 2016, it said.

Uttar Pradesh recorded an increase of 346 per cent in such incidents during last three years from 26 in 2014 to 116 in 2016, it said.

In Uttarakhand, four such cases were reported in 2014, which increased by 450 per cent to 22 in 2016, it said.

West Bengal reported 20 such cases in 2014 and 53 in 2016 showing an increase of 165 per cent, the data shows.

Between 2014 and 2016, such cases increased from five to 26 in Madhya Pradesh and from three to 16 in Haryana, an increase of 420 and 433 per cent respectively.

Bihar, which did not report any such incident in 2014, saw eight such incidents in 2016, an increase of 800 per cent, Ahir said in written reply to a question whether incidents of lynching or lynching by mob are reportedly on the rise in the country.

"The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) maintains data on offences promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion, race, place of birth etc (Section 153A and 153B of IPC) and State/UT-wise cases...is at annexure.

However, NCRB does not maintain data on cases relating to cow 'vigilantes', cow trade and trafficking," Ahir said.

He also said no proposal to bring a stringent law against mob lynching is at present under consideration in the Home Ministry.

"'Police' and 'Public Order' are State subjects under the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India. The responsibilities to maintain law and order, protection of life and property rest primarily with the respective State Governments. The State Governments are competent to deal with such offences under the provisions of law," he said.