2022 crime rate: NCRB data burns holes in much-touted Gujarat Model

In September last year, the Gujarat government in a press release claimed that the state has seen a consistent decline in crime rate – from 16.5 per cent in 2016 to 11.9 per cent in 2019. The Bhupendra Patel-led BJP government further attributed the reduction in crime rate to the Gujarat Model of governance.

The government, the release said, has been effectively implementing policing initiatives such as the VISHWAS CCTV surveillance project and new laws such as the Gujarat Control of Terrorism and Organised Crime (GCTOC) Act and Land Grabbing Act that have curbed crimes.

However, a year later, data released by the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) on December 2, 2023, presents a picture vastly different from the one projected by the state government.

Highest custodial deaths

According to the NCRB data for 2022, Gujarat recorded the highest number of custodial deaths across all states and Union Territories (UTs) for the third consecutive year. The state reported 24 custodial deaths in 2022 out of which not all were on police remand. It had recorded 12 custodial deaths in 2019-20 and 17 in 2021-22.

Interestingly, per data presented in the state Assembly in March this year, there were 189 cases of custodial deaths in 2021-22, of which 35 were in police custody, while the remaining deaths took place in judicial custody.

Harsh Sanghvi, state Home Minister, who presented the data in response to a question by Porbandar Congress MLA Arjun Modhvadia, also claimed that Rs 7 lakh was paid in compensation to the kin of those who died in custody.

Crime against women and children

NCRB data showed that with 45 killings, Gujarat ranked second in the murder of children below the age of six, while Maharashtra topped the list at 60. Karnataka took the third spot, with 44 such incidents.

According to the NCRB, out of the 45 children below the age of six who were murdered in Gujarat in 2022, 20 were boys. “Many of these murders, especially of the girl child, are actually infanticide owing to the penchant for a male child,” a senior police official in Ahmedabad said.

Gujarat also stands third when it comes to murder of children in the 6-12 age group, with 22 such cases in 2022. Of the 22 children killed, 11 were male. Thirteen teenagers in the age group of 12-16 years – of which five were male – were murdered in Gujarat during the same period.

Crimes against women have also gone up 25 per cent in Gujarat. As per NCRB data, on average, 45 women are raped every month, more than six are attacked with acid, and 260 are murdered in the state.

Noticeably, the state government has claimed that the incidents of acid attacks on women in Gujarat are negligible. However, the data reveals that a total of 22 cases of acid attacks were reported from 2018 to 2021.

Surat, the economic hub of Gujarat, has recorded the highest number of crimes against women. The growing menace of IMFL (India-made foreign liquor) and country liquor in Surat city and district has been attributed as the primary reason.

In September this year, Darshan Naik, a social activist, filed an RTI application to get crime statistics from 13 police stations in the city from 2015 through 2023. “The information under RTI involves only 13 police stations out of the total 36 in Surat. There has been an increase in rape and eve-teasing in the district. The situation that has worsened over the years is primarily due to the failure of the Surat police in adequately implementing prohibition laws in the dry state,” said Naik.

Amid the high number of crimes against women and children, the number of cases pending trial in Gujarat is on the rise despite special and fast-track courts, according to the NCRB report.

Rising cybercrime

Between January 2020 and May 2023, a whopping 1.59 lakh complaints of cybercrimes were registered on the 1930 Gujarat helpline. Of these, 3,115 were related to online sexual harassment.

As per NCRB data, Gujarat was one of the nine states to have recorded more than 1 lakh complaints of cybercrimes during the period. The data also reveals that the ratio of conversion of complaints into FIRs is 0.8 per cent in Gujarat as opposed to the national ratio of 1.9 per cent. The Gujarat state police registered only 1,233 FIRs against 1.59 complaints.

The conviction rate in cases of crimes against Dalits in Gujarat between 2018 and 2021 was a dismal 3.065 per cent. Out of 5,369 cases registered during the period, only 32 cases were proven against the accused, while 1044 cases were settled out of court. In 1,012 cases, including murder and rape, registered under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, the accused were acquitted.

“The Gujarat government is often found ineffective when it comes to punishing the accused in cases of crimes against Dalits. The ruling BJP government cannot escape the responsibility about the plight of Dalits in the state, because most of the assembly seats reserved for the SC members have been under the BJP for more than 27 years now,” said Martin Macwan, a Gujarat-based Dalit rights activist.

“In fact, if you observe the cases in which conviction has been reached, it is because of the relentless support of Dalit rights NGOs. The complainant and the witnesses often receive social pressure and threats to withdraw complaints. Due to this, many incidents go unreported or are settled out of court,” Macwan said.

Rise in fake news and hate propaganda

Gujarat saw nearly a four-fold rise in incidents “promoting enmity between different groups” in 2022, reveals NCRB data. There were 45 such incidents registered in 2022, while there were only 12 such cases in 2021.

Gujarat police have attributed the rise to the widespread use of social media. “Social media is widespread now, yet we use IPC Section 153A for crime related to posts with fake or morphed content,” said Gujarat DGP (law and order) Shamsher Singh.

Gujarat also leads in the seizure of fake Rs 2,000 currency notes in the country. According to NCRB data, 11.48 lakh counterfeit notes were seized from the state in 2022 that accounts for a whopping 98 per cent of the total seizures made in the country.

Delhi takes the second spot with 73,253 seizures of fake Rs 2,000 currency notes, a huge difference compared to what was seized in Gujarat in the same period.