N.C.R.B., (M.H.A.

) IN INDIA - 2000

CRIME

CHAPTER-7
TABLES

CRIME AGAINST WEAKER SECTIONS OF SOCIETY (SCs/STs)

7.1.1 India is a welfare State. It is committed to the welfare and development of its people in general and of vulnerable sections in particular. Equality of status and opportunity to all citizens of the country are guaranteed by the Constitution of India which also provides that no individual shall be discriminated against on grounds of religion, caste or sex. Fundamental Rights and specific provisions, namely, Articles 38, 39 and 46 in the Constitution of India stand testimony to the commitment of the State towards its people. The strategy of the State is to secure distributive justice and allocation of resources to support programmes for social, economic and educational advancement of the weaker section in general and those of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Backward Classes, Minorities in particular to avoid injustice and exploitation. Constitutional Rights 7.2.1 The Indian Constitution vide Article 15 lays down that no citizen shall on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth be subjected to any disability or restriction. It also guarantees that every citizen shall have equality of status and opportunity. 7.2.2 In a country like India, which consists of heterogenous groups and subgroups, the problems of social inequality and class divide need to be recognised and resolved by all available democratic measures including special legislations to deal with particular acts constituting offences against such weaker sections of society. `Scheduled Castes' and `Scheduled Tribes' are two such identified social groups. Article 46 of the Constitution of India, expressly provides that the State shall promote with special care the educational and economic upliftment of the Weaker Sections of the people, in particular of SCs & STs and shall protect them from injustice and all forms of exploitation. Legal Rights 7.3.1 To uphold the Constitutional mandate and to safeguard the interests of this section of the society, Special social enactments have come into force from time to time including privileges by way of reservations for them. The major legal enactment sponsored by Centre are: (i) (ii) Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955; and SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989

7.3.2 The Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955 was enacted in furtherance of Article 17 of the Constitution by which untouchability was abolished and its practice in any form is forbidden. Further, in order to check and deter crimes against SCs/STs by persons belonging to other Communities, the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 was brought into force from 30th January, 1990. These enactments have extended the positive discrimination in favour of SCs and STs to the field of criminal law in as much as they prescribe penalties that are more stringent than for corresponding

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offences under Indian Penal Code (IPC) and other laws. For speedy trial of cases registered exclusively under these Acts, special centres have been established in the major States. 7.3.3 In addition, in pursuance of the Constitution 65th Amendment Act, 1990, National Commission for SCs and STs was constituted w.e.f. 12th March, 1992 with wide functions and powers of Civil Court to take up matters which are of vital importance for socio-economic development of SCs and STs.

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Classification of Crimes 7.4.1 The crimes against Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes are broadly categorised under two categories. (1) Under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) (i) Murder (ii) Hurt (iii) Rape (iv) Kidnapping & Abduction (v) Dacoity (vi) Robbery (vii) Arson (viii) Others (other classified IPC crimes) (2) Under Special Laws (SL) (i) (ii) Protection of Civil Rights Acts, 1955 The Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

7.4.2 The crimes under IPC such as `Murder', `Hurt', `Rape' etc. or under Special Acts such as PCR Act & SC/ST (P) Act are already included in overall crimes reported under IPC and SLL respectively and have been discussed in details in the preceding chapters. The data specific to crimes against SC/ST discussed in the following paragraphs is a part and parcel of total crimes but analysed separately for better comprehension. 7.4.3 The present analysis presented in this chapter is based upon Monthly Crime Statistics. Therefore, information compiled for these crimes may be treated as provisional, since it is compiled from Monthly data and does not distinguish true or false cases. Population 7.5.1 As per 1991 census of the country, the Scheduled Castes constituted 16.48* per cent of total population in the country while the Scheduled Tribes constituted only 8.08* per cent in the population. Uttar Pradesh with the highest population share (16.4%) also represented the highest share of Scheduled Castes (21.2%) followed by West Bengal (11.6%) while the State of Madhya Pradesh represented significantly high share of Scheduled Tribes (22.7%) followed by Maharashtra (10.8%) and Orissa (10.4%). Crimes Against Scheduled Castes Incidence of Crimes - National 7.6.1 The incidence of these crimes (IPC + SLL) was reported to be 25,455 in the country during 2000. Except year 2000, these crimes have shown continuous declining trend with percentage decrease of 8.3 and 8.1 respectively. The year 2000 have shown upward trend with an increase of 1.4%. The comparative

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details of these crimes during last three years are presented below. * Excluding J&K where 1991 census could not be conducted.

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Table-7.1 Number of crimes against Scheduled Castes during 1998 to 2000

Sl. No. Year Crimes Against Scheduled Castes Violen t (IPC) (1) 1. 2. 3. (2) 1998 1999 2000 (3) 2237 2216 2313 Other s (IPC) (4) 15234 14898 15084 SLL Total Percentage change over the previous year Violent (IPC) (7) -6.9 -0.9 4.4 Other s (IPC) (8) -6.3 -2.2 1.2 SLL Total

(5) 8167 7979 8058

(6) 25638 25093 25455

(9) -12.1 -2.3 1.0

(10) -8.3 -2.1 1.4

Note:- 1. Violent crime includes Murder, Rape, K&A, Dacoity, Robbery & Arson 2. `Others' include Hurt cases 7.6.2 Crime head-wise incidence reported during the years 1998 to 2000 alongwith the percentage variations over respective years are presented below. Table-7.2 Incidence of crimes against Scheduled Castes by crime heads during 1998 to 2000 Sl. No. Crime-Head 1998 Years 1999 2000 Percentage variation in 1999 2000 over over 1998 1999 (6) -1.9 8.3 -9.8 -26.5 -27.3 -2.6 -14.9 -6.3 -1.9 2.0 -2.1 (7) 4.0 8.3 17.5 5.6 -0.9 -13.9 7.9 -0.9 1.2 -0.6 1.4

(1) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11.

(2) Murder Rape Kidnapping & Abduction Dacoity Robbery Arson Hurt PCR Act SC/ST(Prev. of Atrocities) Act Others Total

(3) 516 923 253 49 150 346 3809 724 7443 1142 5 2563 8

(4) 506 1000 228 36 109 337 3241 678 7301 11657 25093

(5) 526 1083 268 38 108 290 3497 672 7386 11587 25455

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Chart-7.1
INCIDENCE OF CRIM ES COMM ITTED AGAINST SCHEDULED CASTES DURING 1998-2000
INCIDENCE 1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0 Murder Rape K&A 1998 Dacoity CRIME HEADS 1999 2000 Robbery Arson PCR Act

7.6.3 The above data reflects that the incidence of most of the crime cases showed mixed trend during last three years. The incidence of `Arson cases decreased by 13.9 per cent over the previous year. The upward trend of `Rape cases remained static at 8.3 per cent during last three years while Kidnapping & Abduction cases increased by 17.5%. 7.6.4 Table 7.3 presents the percentage variation of IPC crimes committed against Scheduled Castes and their share in total IPC crimes that were committed during the years 1998 to 2000. Chart-7.2
PERCENTAGE SHARE OF VARIOUS CRIMES COMMITTED AGAINST SCHEDULED CASTES DURING 2000
HURT 13.7% PCR ACT 2.6% VIOLENT CRIMES 9.1%

SC/ST(PREV OF ATRO.) 29.0%

OTHER CRIMES 45.6%

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Table-7.3 Percentage share and variation in IPC crimes against Scheduled Castes in total IPC crimes
Sl. No. Year Total IPC crimes IPC crime against Scheduled Castes (4) 17471 17114 17397 Percentage variation over previous year (5) -6.4 -2.0 1.7 Percentage to total IPC crime (6) 1.0 1.0 1.0

(1) 1. 2. 3.

(2) 199 8 199 9 200 0

(3) 17,78,81 5 17,64,62 9 17,65,65 0

7.6.5 As per the 1991 census, the population of Scheduled Castes is nearly 16 per cent in the country, however, the share of the reported crimes (under IPC) against them is only one per cent and this share is constant during the last three years. Crime Trends (States & UTs) 7.7.1 The crime rate i.e. incidence per lakh of population for the total crimes committed against Scheduled Castes acts as a balanced indicator to assess the level at which such crimes have affected the Scheduled Castes in the Society. The national level crime rate worked out to be 2.5, that remained constant over 1999. 7.7.2 Uttar Pradesh, which has the highest share both in the country's total population and in the Scheduled Caste's population, reported third highest rate of crime at 4.3. Ranked similar to 1999 Rajasthan reported the highest rate of crimes at 9.6 although the share of crimes against Scheduled Castes in Rajasthan was 20.4 per cent which was lower than that of Uttar Pradesh (28.8%). The State of Madhya Pradesh ranked 2nd (same as in 1999) highest in the rate of crime (5.8). These three States appear to be more sensitive to these crimes in the country. West Bengal, which has significant share of Scheduled Castes population in the country (11.6% as per 1991 census), has not reported any crime against this group of society during last few years. 7.7.3 Amongst UTs, Delhi reported 13 cases and Pondicherry reported 21 cases of Crimes against Scheduled Castes during the year.

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Chart-7.3
STATE-WISE PERCENTAGE CONTRIBUTION TO TOTAL CRIMES COMMITTED AGAINST SCHEDULED CASTES DURING 2000
RAJ ASTHAN 20.4% M ADHYA P RADESH 1 8.2%

GUJ ARAT 5.2% TA M IL NAIDU 5.1 % ANDHRA P RA DESH 6.2% OTHER STATES & UTS 1 0.9% UTTA R P RADESH 28.8%

KARNATAKA 5.2%

Table-7.4 States/UTs with maximum percentage contribution towards various forms of crimes committed against Scheduled Castes during 2000 Sl. No. (1) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. Crime-Head (2) Murder Rape Kidnapping & Abduction Dacoity Robbery Arson Hurt Offences under PCR Act SC/ST(Prevention of Atrocities) Act Other Offences All crimes State/UT (3) Uttar Pradesh 62.4 Uttar Pradesh 35.0 Uttar Pradesh 69.0 Uttar Pradesh 63.2 Uttar Pradesh 67.6 Uttar Pradesh 56.9 Uttar Pradesh 24.2 Andhra Pradesh 42.3 Uttar Pradesh 40.9 Rajasthan 37.5 Uttar Pradesh 28.8

7.7.4 A detailed account of the crimes committed against Scheduled Castes

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during past few years is presented below. Murder 7.7.5 Incidence of Murder of Scheduled Castes, reported an increase of 4 per cent in 2000 over the figure of 1999. The maximum number of such cases (328) were reported in Uttar Pradesh during the year. Rape 7.7.6 Incidence of these cases reported decline during 1998 over 1997 but showed an increase of 8.3 per cent during the years 1999 and 2000 as compared to the respective previous years. Kidnapping & Abduction 7.7.7 These cases reported decline of 9.8 per cent in 1999 over 1998 but it showed an increase of 17.5% in 2000 over 1999. However, Uttar Pradesh continued to report the maximum (69%) of such cases in the country. Dacoity 7.7.8 Incidence of these cases reported decrease of 26.5 per cent in 1999 over 1998 but have shown upward trend with increase of 5.6 in 2000 over 1999. The State of Uttar Pradesh reported 24 (out of 38) such cases during the year which accounted to 63.2 per cent to total cases in the country. Robbery 7.7.9 The incidence of these cases reported a continuous declining trend during last three years. Uttar Pradesh reported 73 (67.6%) such cases during the year. Arson 7.7.10 Incidence of these cases reported decrease over last three years. However, in comparison to other States, Uttar Pradesh continued to record the largest incidence of this crime with a total of 165 cases (56.9%) in the country. Hurt 7.7.11 Incidence of these cases increased to 7.9 per cent during the year. Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu reported higher number of cases 845, 798 and 654 respectively. These three States together contributed 65.7 per cent of cases registered at All-India level. Protection of Civil Rights Act 7.7.12 The number of cases reported under this Act against Scheduled Castes at All India were 672 which showed a decline of 0.9 per cent over previous year. In fact, reporting of these cases has shown a continuous declining trend during past five years. This reflects upon country's progress towards eradication of untouchability in the country as this particular law checks this evil social practice.

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SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 7.7.13 The incidence of cases, reported under this Act, has also shown decreasing trend during 1998 and 1999 with a decrease of 4.8 and 1.9 per cent respectively. The State of Uttar Pradesh reported as many as 3,018(40.9%) cases during the year. Crime Against Scheduled Tribes (ST) 7.8.1 The incidence of these crimes (IPC+SLL) was reported to be 4,190 in the country during 2000 as compared to 4,450 of such cases during 1999 thereby recording a decrease of 5.8 per cent during 2000 over the previous year. 7.8.2 The proportion (0.2%) of IPC crimes committed against Scheduled Tribes to the total IPC crimes reported in the country being very less, turned out to be significant when compared to their smaller population representation. The following table presents the crime situation and the crimes committed against Scheduled Tribes during 1998 - 2000. Table-7.5 Number of crimes against Scheduled Tribes during 1998 to 2000
Sl. No. Year Crime against Scheduled Tribes Violent (1) 1 2 3 (2) 199 8 199 9 200 0 (3) 511 577 549 Others* (4) 3006 3254 3108 SLL (5) 759 619 533 Total (6) 4276 4450 4190 Percentage change over the previous year Violent (7) 4.1 12.9 -4.9 Others* (8) -12.2 8.3 -4.5 SLL (9) 3.8 18. 4 13. 9 Total (10) -7.9 4.1 -5.8

Note:- 1. Violent crime includes Murder, Rape, Kidnapping & Abduction, Dacoity, Robbery & Arson 2. * Includes `Hurt' cases

Incidence 7.9.1 Crime head-wise incidence reported during the years 1998 to 2000 alongwith percentage variations over respective previous year is presented in the table below: Table-7.6 Incidence of crimes against Scheduled Tribes by crime heads during 1998 to 2000
Sl. No . Crime-Head Years Percentage Variation in

N.C.R.B., (M.H.A.) IN INDIA - 2000 1998 199 9 (4) 80 384 59 3 8 43 646 45 574 260 8 445 0 200 0 (5) 59 403 48 5 2 32 447 31 502 266 1 419 0 1999 over 1998 (6) 21.2 16.0 5.3 -40.0 -46.6 13.2 1.2 -10.0 -19.0 10.1 4.1 2000 over 1999 (7) 26.3 4.9 18.6 66.7 -75.0 -25.6 -30.8 -31.1 -12.5 -2.0 -5.8

CRIME

(1) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11.

(2) Murder Rape Kidnapping & Abduction Dacoity Robbery Arson Hurt PCR Act SC/ST(Prev. of Atrocities) Act Others Total

(3) 66 331 56 5 15 38 638 50 709 2368 4276

7.9.2 Figures presented in the above table show that the crime heads like `Murder, `Rape, `Kidnapping & increased during 2000 compared to 1999. Incidence of and the `PCR Act registered substantial decreases of per cent respectively in 2000 over previous year. Chart-7.4

the incidence of some of Abduction and `Dacoity `Robbery, `Arson, `Hurt 75.0, 25.6, 30.8 and 31.1

INCIDENCE OF CRIMES COMMITTED AGAINST SCHEDULED TRIBES DURING 1998-2000

450 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 Murder Rape K&A Dacoity CRIME HEADS 1998 1999 2000 Robbery Arson PCR Act

Crime Trends : States & UTs 7.10.1 An analysis of the crimes committed against Scheduled Tribes indicates that the incidence of such crimes was highest in Madhya Pradesh (44.0%) and Rajasthan (27%). These States together accounted for 71% of total crimes committed against Scheduled Tribes in the country.

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Chart-7.5
STATE-WISE PERCENTAGE CONTRIBUTION TO TOTAL CRIMES COMMITTED AGAINST SCHEDULED TRIBES DURING 2000
OTHER STATES & UTS 7.9% RAJ ASTHAN 27.0%

MAHARASHTRA 3.4% GUJ ARAT 7.5% ORISSA 5.4% ANDRA P RADESH 4.8% MADHYA P RADESH 44.0%

Table-7.7 States/UTs with maximum percentage contribution towards various forms of crimes committed against Scheduled Tribes during 2000
Sl.No. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Crime-Head Murder Rape Kidnapping & Abduction Arson Hurt Offences under PCR Act SC/ST (Prev. of Atrocities) Act Other Offences All Crimes State/UTs Madhya Pradesh 37.3 Madhya Pradesh 60.5 Madhya Pradesh 54.2 Madhya Pradesh 37.5 Madhya Pradesh 48.5 Madhya Pradesh 29.0 Madhya Pradesh 29.1 Madhya Pradesh 43.9 Madhya Pradesh 44.0

Crime Trends (States/UTs) 7.10.2 The All-India crime rate i.e. incidence level per lakh of population for the total crimes committed against Scheduled Tribes worked out to be 0.4 while last year it was 0.5 thus registering a decline over 1999. Madhya Pradesh which reported the highest incidence (44%) of such crimes also ranked first in registering crime rate at 2.3. Rajasthan State which recorded second highest

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incidence (27%) of such crimes also reported 2nd highest crime rate (2.1). 7.10.3 Amongst the Union Territories, D&N Haveli reported three cases of crime against Scheduled Tribe out of 5 incidence reported by all UTs. 7.10.4 The detailed analysis for the crimes committed against Scheduled Tribes during the year 2000 is presented below. Murder 7.10.5 The incidence of `Murder' of Scheduled Tribes increased by 26.3 per cent in 2000 over 1999. The State of Madhya Pradesh reported 22 cases (37.5%) out of a total of 59 in the country during the year. Rape 7.10.6 The incidence of Rape cases reported an increase of 4.9 per cent in 2000 as compared to 1999. Madhya Pradesh share in such crimes was 60.5 per cent to the total cases in the country with 244 out of 403 cases in the country during the year Kidnapping & Abduction 7.10.7 `Kidnapping & Abduction' of persons belonging to Scheduled Tribe communities went up by 18.6 per cent during 2000 in comparison to 1999. Madhya Pradesh contributed 26 cases registered in the country out of 48 cases sharing 54.2%. Dacoity 7.10.8 Incidence of these cases increased by 66.7 per cent with reporting of only 5 cases in the country during the year compared to 3 cases in the year 1999. Robbery 7.10.9 Only 2 incidence were reported from all over the country compared to 8 in the previous year, thus registering a drastic decrease of 75% in 2000 over 1999. Arson 7.10.10 The incidence of these cases declined by 25.6 per cent during 2000 over 1999. Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan together reported the highest incidents of 12 and 10 case respectively against a total of 32 cases registered in the country accounted for 68.8% altogether. Hurt 7.10.11 The incidence of `Hurt' cases declined substantially by 30.8 per cent during 2000 as compared to 1999. Nearly half (217) of 447 cases were reported from Madhya Pradesh. Protection of Civil Rights Act 7.10.12 The incidence of cases under Protection of Civil Rights Act registered a decline of 31.1 per cent during 2000 over previous year. Madhya

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Pradesh reported 9 out of 31 such cases. SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 7.10.13 The offences under SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act registered a decline of 12.5 per cent in the country during 2000 over 1999. The State of Madhya Pradesh reported 146 cases out of 502 such cases which was 29.1 per cent of the cases registered in the country.
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