CRB stats show crimes against women down
Image for representational purposes only. (Photo: Nino Carè from Pixabay)
Imkong Walling
Dimapur | November 10
In the countrywide graph of ‘Crime against women’, Nagaland dropped to double digit figures of 79 in 2017 after an all-time high of 105 registered in 2016. The figure is as per the National Crime Records Bureau’s (NCRB) newest national compendium of crime statistics for 2017.
A compilation of statistics published annually titled as ‘Crime in India’ since 1953, the latest publication (of crime figures from 2017) appeared after a gap of two years in October 2019. The previous compendium of 2016 was published in October 2017.
There is no general crime data for the state of Nagaland from the pre-2005 era, as per the Nagaland Police Headquarters. In response to a formal request from The Morung Express in 2013-14 for crime data since 1963, the PHQ said that no statistics earlier than 2005 was available.
Categorized broadly as ‘Crime against women’, only the Union Territory (UT) of Lakshadweep was ahead of Nagaland in terms of the lowest number of cases reported during the year state/UT-wise.
Lakshadweep reported only 6 as against Nagaland’s 79. Nagaland was also the only state out of 29 with double digit figures in terms of cases reported.
In terms of incidence rate, Nagaland’s was the lowest among the states and UTs at 6.9 against the national rate of 57.9 per lakh of population. The total number of victims stood at 97.
After hovering in the double digit figures since 2005, year 2016 was the only period when the number of cases reported reached/crossed triple figures. 2015 reported 91 cases, the second highest for the state so far.
Nature of crime
A glance of the category for 2017 showed up 10 cases of rape. There were 10 victims, of which, one was a minor. In 9 of the cases, the offender was known to the victim.
There were 1 murder and rape, 2 attempted rapes, 12 assaults on women with intent to outrage her modesty and 3 under Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act. There was not a single case reported relating to domestic violence and cyber crime.
Police investigation
As far as police investigation and disposal of cases of crimes against women was concerned, Nagaland ended year 2017 with a pendency rate of 20.5 percent. The year had a total of 127 cases up for investigation, inclusive of 48 cases pending from 2016 and 79 registered in 2017.
Investigations were completed and charge-sheet filed in court in 78 of the cases during the year. It included 58 cases registered during the year and 20 cases pending from 2016.
23 of the total 127 cases for the year were disposed during the investigation state for reasons deemed as false report, mistake of fact or of law or civil dispute and lack of sufficient evidence.
Cases pending investigation at the end of the year stood at 26.
Court trials
Coming to court hearings, 55 trials relating to crimes against women were completed in 2017, the year ending with a conviction rate of 71.4 percent. There were 41 convictions (23 cases from previous year and 18 cases of the year), 9 acquittals and 5 others deemed as "cases discharged." A total of 50 persons (all men) were convicted.
The year had a total of 193 cases up for trial, inclusive of 115 pending from the previous year. 2 cases were "stayed" and cases pending trial at the end of the year stood at 138.
