Selective omission of crimes

The annually-released 'Crime in India Report' is an eagerly awaited one. Every year, numerous stories follow this report broadcasting mostly, and rather unfortunately, the rising rates of crimes against women. You see, reports by bodies such as the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) have always been ready repositories of data. I have written several stories over the last decade referring to the NCRB data, criticised states that have failed to curb crimes against women, chastised the increasing levels of lawlessness in some, and so on. The latest report by the NCRB, however, has not only been published two years late, the 2017 report is disconcerting in not what it includes but mainly in what it excludes.

Crime in India has also evolved from rapes and murders to lynching, cow slaughter, and hate crimes. In spite of collecting data for all of these, the NCRB chose not to release it. The government agency that is responsible for collecting and analysing crime data found the data collected for the new sub-categories as "unreliable". Incidents of lynchings have been on the rise in India in the last couple of years. While some incidents of lynchings were caused by cow vigilantes, some happened due to the circulation of fake news through social media apps such as WhatsApp. It has long been debated that there is a rise in religious crimes in the country. Independent trackers of hate crimes compiled by few media organisations have also been recently pulled down. At a time like this, the NCRB's data would have lifted the veil on the recorded numbers. It was also an apt opportunity for the government to have punctured claims of a rise in religious crime in India. The fact that the data was not readily provided can point to one of two things — either the numbers are indeed worrying and therefore, not released or their release has been postponed only to be made public with a sanitised version in future.

The NCRB report shows an increase in crimes against women (no surprises there), Dalits, and Scheduled Tribes, and a 45 per cent increase in sedition cases. Interestingly, crimes against Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) has been included where only the SC/ST Act is invoked for the first time, and "insults" have been considered as part of the crimes against Dalits. The NCRB has also (rather conveniently for the government) not released the Accidental Death and Suicides in India (ADSI) report, which throws light on farmer suicides. Once again farmer suicides are purportedly on the rise under the current government regime.

By not releasing data, the government has either decided to go silent on these problematic incidents or has decided to whitewash them; both of which are equally perturbing. Not having access to legitimate government data is becoming a bit of a trend now. First, it was the controversy surrounding the jobs data, which was later proven to be correct with unemployment at an alarming 45-year high. And now, we have the selective reporting of the incidents of crime in India. The cloud of doubts over facts and figures increases with every passing day leading to confusion and in many cases, deluding of citizens who have no way of judging the real state of affairs. We deserve the truth, however, uncomfortable it may be.

Shutapa Paul is an author and media entrepreneur. Views expressed are strictly personal