During a rally in Uttar Pradesh last week, Home Minister Amit Shah said that there had been a drastic improvement in the law-and-order situation in UP. There are no more ‘bahubalis’ (strongmen), and neither the girls are any more afraid of venturing out of their home late at night.
The National Crime Report 2020 was released by the National Crime Records Bureau last month. The overall number of crimes in 2020 has increased by a whopping 28% over 2019. The annual increase in crimes has been around 3% for the past six years, from 2014 onwards.
Cognizable crimes in the Indian Penal code and Special & State laws have shown a sudden upward trend.
Disobedience by government servants to superiors’ orders has gone up by an astonishing 1977%, making one wonder what is going on. In 2019 also this category of crimes had risen by 29%. NCRB says much of these are related to violations of COVID19 rules.
2020 was the year of the pandemic, during which the general behavior patterns of citizens and criminals changed.
Unfortunately, Uttar Pradesh remains in the top 5 in crime categories such as Public Safety, Social crimes, crimes against the state, and crimes against women and children. The state has the dubious distinction of topping the crime list in several sections. Overall, the state remains No 2 in the country as per the number of crimes committed.
However, Lucknow, Kanpur, and Ghaziabad are among the least crime-prone metro cities in the list compiled by NCRB.
As is with several other factors, Uttar Pradesh has a lot of ground to cover before celebrations can start.
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