3,400 Communal Riot Cases Registered in Country from 2016 to 2020: Centre Tells Lok Sabha

New Delhi: Nearly 3,400 communal riot cases were registered in the country between 2016 and 2020, Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai said in Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

The minister also said that 2.76 lakh rioting cases were registered in the country during the said period.

Quoting the reports of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Rai said 857 communal or religious riot cases were registered in 2020, 438 in 2019, 512 in 2018, 723 in 2017 and 869 in 2016.

As many as 51,606 rioting cases were registered in 2020, 45,985 were in 2019, 57,828 in 2018, 58,880 in 2017 and 61,974 in 2016, he said replying to a written question. PTI ACB

Rise in Cases of Crimes Against SC/STs in Past 3 Yrs; UP tops list

In another written reply, the government informed the Lok Sabha that there had been a rise in the number of cases registered for crimes against the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SC/STs) from 2018 to 2020.

The total number of cases under the SCT/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act 1989, the total number of cases registered in states and Union territories in 2018 was 49,064, which up to 53,515 in 2019 and 58,538 in 2020, according to Ramdas Athawale, minister of state for social justice and empowerment.

The maximum number of cases registered were Uttar Pradesh, where the total number of cases was 11,841 in 2018, a total of 11,865 in 2019 and 12,717 in 2020.

 The second highest number of cases was in Madhya Pradesh, which saw cases numbering 6,621 in 2018, which went up to 7,222 in 2019 and spurted to a total of 9,300 in 2020.

 Both the states are being ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Athawale was replying to a question by Kunwar Danish Ali on crimes against SC/STs particularly related to preventing them from mounting on a mare during weddings, stopping marriage processions, stopping from playing DJ (disc jockey) songs in the past three years.