NEW DELHI: The number of sedition cases being filed each year has been steadily rising, according to the latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report for the year 2017. From 35 and 30 sedition cases in 2016 and 2015, respectively, the number of cases recorded under that category shot up to 51 in 2017. However, most cases reach nowhere — in 2017, there was only one instance of conviction while acquittals stood at five.
Of the 228 arrested in sedition charges in 2017, three were juveniles. In all, 160 accused were chargesheeted. Assam topped the chart with 19 sedition cases in 2017, followed by Haryana with 13.According to data provided by states to the NCRB, cases of political violence and instances of promoting enmity among group have gone up.
As many as 1,909 offences were committed due to political reasons in 2017 compared with 1,987 and 1,960 cases recorded in 2016 and 2017, respectively. Of a total of 1,909 cases, 980 were from Kerala. Maharashtra recorded 115 cases, while West Bengal which has lately been witnessing an uptick in political violence, recorded only 28 cases of political rioting in 2017.
Acid attack cases shot up from 223 in 2016 to 244 in 2017. Cases of crime against children and women jumped 20% and 6%, respectively.
According to the NCRB report, fraudulent transactions and sexual exploitation were the most reported cyber crimes in India. Cyber frauds led the number of reported cyber crimes by a large margin, accounting for a total of 12,213 cases. The second most reported cases of cyber crime were of online sexual exploitation and harassment — 1,460 reports.
Uttar Pradesh recorded the highest number of cyber crimes in 2017 — 4,971 out of the total 21,796. Maharashtra ranked second with 3,604 counts of reported online crime, while Karnataka ranked third with 3,174 cases. In the Northeast, Assam recorded sharply higher number of cyber crimes in comparison to other states, with a total of 1,120 reported cases.
Frauds and extortion were the biggest motives behind attacks in UP, while sexual exploits and frauds were the biggest causes of attacks in Maharashtra.