Editorial: Rising tide of crime

There are multiple alarming trends in the just-released report of the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB). An increase in the instances of crime against women and children and a sharp rise in the number of suicides among daily wage earners are among the ominous indicators of a society that is grappling with the long-term socio-economic […]

There are multiple alarming trends in the just-released report of the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB). An increase in the instances of crime against women and children and a sharp rise in the number of suicides among daily wage earners are among the ominous indicators of a society that is grappling with the long-term socio-economic impact of the devastating pandemic. One in four of the recorded 1.64 lakh suicide victims during 2021 was a daily wage earner. The group accounted for 25.6% of the overall deaths, making it the largest profession-wise. Overall, there has been a 7.2% increase in suicide numbers compared with the previous year. Though the ‘Gujarat model’ is being projected by the BJP as a badge of honour, the western State has reported the highest number of custodial deaths in India for the second consecutive year. With 23 such cases, the State recorded a 53% increase in custodial deaths since 2020. A total of 88 custodial deaths were reported across the country in 2021. Nationwide, there has been a sharp rise in the cases of crime against women, up 15.3% in 2021, with 4.28 lakh cases being registered last year as against 3.71 lakh cases in 2020. Also, crimes against children have seen a substantial rise, with 1.49 lakh cases registered in 2021 of which, 53,874 — 36.05% — were under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO). It is a matter of national shame that Delhi has become the most unsafe metropolitan city for women in the country, recording 13,892 cases in 2021, a significant surge of more than 40% compared with 2020.

The rising number of suicides by daily wage earners must be a cause for concern for policymakers. They remained the largest profession-wise group among suicide victims in 2021. The crushing impact of the pandemic on the informal sector has brought miseries to these sections of society. In 2019, before the Covid-19 outbreak, the daily wage earners accounted for 23.4% (32,563) of the recorded 1.39 lakh suicides. The NCRB report shows that not only did the share of daily wage earners among suicide victims go up during 2021, the number increased faster than the national average. At the national level, the number of suicides increased 7.20% from 2020 to 2021 while the number of suicides in the daily wage group rose 11.52% during this period. At a time when there is a growing tendency among the governments to invoke draconian laws to suppress dissent, there were 76 cases of sedition registered in the country in 2021, of which the maximum — 29 — were in Andhra Pradesh. For AP, this was in sharp contrast to 2020, when no sedition case was recorded in the State.

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