NCRB Report 2018

Syllabus subtopic: Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance- applications, models, successes, limitations, and potential; citizens charters, transparency & accountability and institutional and other measures.

Prelims and Mains focus: About the key findings of the NCRB 2018 report and its significance; About NCRB; mission and objectives

News: The National Crime Records Bureau published the annual Crime in India Report 2018 on Wednesday. It was published with provisional data, as five States — West Bengal, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Sikkim —did not send clarifications sought by the NCRB.

Background

The 2017 annual crime report was published on October 21 last year, after a delay of two years.

Findings of the report

• According to the report, 3,78,277 cases of crime against women were reported, up from 3,59,849 in 2017.
• Uttar Pradesh topped the list with 59,445 cases, followed by Maharashtra (35,497) and West Bengal (30,394).
• The conviction rate in rape­ related cases stood at 27.2% even though the rate of filing chargesheets was 85.3% in such cases.
• Cruelty by husband or his relatives (31.9%) followed by assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty (27.6%) constituted the major share of crimes against women.

NCRB’s Accidental Death and Suicides in India 2018

• The NCRB also released the Accidental Death and Suicides in India 2018 report, which said that 10,349 people working in the farm sector ended their lives in 2018, accounting for 7.7 % of the total number of suicides in the country.

• The total number of people who committed suicide in 2018 was 1,34,516, an increase of 3.6% from 2017 when 1,29,887 cases were reported. The highest number of suicide victims were daily wagers — 26,589, comprising 22.4% of such deaths.

• The majority of the suicides were reported in Maharashtra (17,972) followed by Tamil Nadu (13,896), West Bengal (13,255), Madhya Pradesh (11,775) and Karnataka (11,561).

• West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Uttarakhand, Meghalaya, Goa, Chandigarh, Daman & Diu, Delhi, Lakshadweep and Puducherry reported zero suicides by farmers/cultivators as well as agricultural labourers.

Other findings

• The incidents registered under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes related Acts saw a decline from 6729 incidents reported in 2017 to 4816 in 2018.

• A total of 29,017 cases of murder were registered in 2018, showing an increase of 1.3% over 2017 (28,653 cases).

• West Bengal reported the maximum number of political murders in 2018. The number of murders due to “political reason” in the State stood at 12, followed by nine in Bihar and seven in Maharashtra. In all, 54 political murders were reported in the country in 2018. In 2017, the number of such cases stood at 98.

About National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB)

NCRB was set-up in 1986 to function as a repository of information on crime and criminals so as to assist the investigators in linking crime to the perpetrators. It was set up based on the recommendation of the Task force, 1985 and National Police Commission, 1977 by merging the Directorate of Coordination and Police Computer (DCPC), Inter State Criminals Data Branch of CBI and Central Finger Print Bureau of CBI. Earlier Statistical Branch of Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D) was also merged with NCRB, but was later de-merged.

Mission

• To empower Indian Police with Information Technology and criminal Intelligence to enable them to uphold law and protect people.
• To provide leadership and excellence in crime analysis particularly for serious and organized crime.

Objectives

• Create and maintain secure sharable National Databases on crimes and criminals for law enforcement agencies and promote their use for public service delivery.
• Collect and process crime statistics at the national level and clearing house of information on crime and criminals both at National and International levels.
• Lead and coordinate development of IT applications and create an enabling IT environment for Police organizations.
• National repository of fingerprints of all criminals.
• To evaluate, modernize and promote automation in State Crime Records Bureaux and State Finger Print Bureaux.
• Training and capacity building in Police Forces in Information Technology and Finger Print Science.