Crime in India in Today’s society is a burning problem. Every society in the world is desirous of living in a crime-free, peaceful state. If a state government could not provide a society with a fear-free, guilt-free environment, then that government either should come up with practical approach or that authority should be replaced in the elections. A decent society needs a peaceful atmosphere to progress. The problem of increasing crime in India has hindered the progress of the country to a great extent. Before understanding the growing problem of crime in the country, we have to understand the concept of crime. Due to the social context of crime it is difficult to define conceptually. An action comes in the category of crime only when it crosses a certain line, and this definite line is created by the powerful class (ruling class) of society. According to the Indian Penal Code, an act which is punishable by the Code (IPC) is called a crime. This determination comes from the law system prevailing in that state. For example, fornication is a criminal activity under Section 497 of Indian Penal Code in India, while it is not a crime in the United States. In England, this is only a civil disorder. In the context of the food of India, beef food is a criminal activity which is a punishable crime in different states. In states where the ban on beef is prohibited, if you are caught using beef in that state, then you may have to pay both the jail and the fine. Drinking alcohol has never been a punishable crime in India, but in the last few years, alcohol, in states like Gujarat, Bihar, Nagaland etc, has been completely banned. Now if a person is caught drinking alcohol in the above mentioned states then he will be punished.
In this way we can understand that there is no crime in itself, unless it is bound by some rules. For the creation of a peaceful and decent society, certain rules are determined and the person who violates those rules is declared the culprit. One can be transformed into a crime according to time and place and the one who performs that duty can be considered a criminal offender from one place to another.
Crime in India in 2017 and its comparison with 2014
Distribution of crime in various states of India is very different. In some states the situation of crime is very frightening, while some states are almost crime-free. If we study crime statistics, then cases of crime in metropolitan cities are more than other states. In the year 2016-2017, the total number of cognizable offenses registered 4,33,349. The share of violent crimes under the overall IPC stood at 33.56%, while in 2014 it was 34.8%. The highest rate of violent crime was recorded from Delhi (97.4) After that Assam (47.1), Arunachal Pradesh (39.9) and Haryana (37.5) arrive.
‘Crime Rate’ is a standard criterion for comparing crime between different states / UTs. The crime rate is defined as the total number of crimes listed on the per lakh population. It is a universal indicator used for comparative analysis of crime in regions with different population and size.
Crime Against Woman in 2017
In cases of crime against women, there has been a decrease in comparison to the year 2014. In 2014, a total of 3,39,457 cases of crime against women were registered and 56.6 registered crime rates. In 2016 – 17, 3,38,954 cases of total crime were registered and crime rate of 53.9 was recorded. Although this reduction is welcome, but the number of crimes against women is still there.
In most cases of crime against women, cases of ‘cruelty’ (34.6%) by husbands or their relatives were registered, followed by ‘assault on women to displacement of identity’ (25.2%) While 18% of kidnapping cases and 10.6% of cases of rape were registered. According to the criminal environment created by the media, the common Indian mindset remains that the crimes of rape are more than other crimes against women, but the actual condition is very different. The highest cases of rape are linked to Madhya Pradesh in entire India, where 12.7% (4391 cases) cases of rape were reported across India. After that Maharashtra registered 12% of the cases. The highest number of crimes per lakh of women was recorded at Delhi, 23.7 in Delhi. While the national average is 5.7.
There were 33,098 (95.5%) cases of rapes in the 34,651 cases of rape in year 2015 which were familiar to rapists. Other horrific images show 556 cases of incest (Cotumbik) rape, in which 54.5% of the victims were under age 18 years of age. Such rising criminal cases show a person’s mentality in the society. When a child is beginning to become a victim of adultery in his family, where will he get a safe environment?
In cases related to property, Rajasthan is at first place with 13.7% cases, followed by Chandigarh (11.5%), and Daman and Diu. In cases related to theft, Delhi (22.3%) is in the top slot whereas Rajasthan tops the list of fraud cases.
