National Crime Records Bureau: 61,974 cases of riots, group clashes recorded in 2016

A total of 61,974 cases of riots and group clashes took place in the country in 2016, down five per cent from the previous year, according to National Crime Records Bureau data released on 30 November.

According to it, 35 cases of sedition were also registered in 2016 out of which Haryana accounted for the highest number of 12 cases followed by Uttar Pradesh with six.

Among the 61,974 cases of riots and group clashes, the highest -- 11,617 cases -- were registered in Bihar, 8,018 in Uttar Pradesh and 7,898 in Maharashtra.

The 35 sedition cases registered in 2016 included three each in Karnataka and Kerala, two each in Delhi, Telangana and Madhya Pradesh and one each in Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal.

As many as 60 cases of custodial deaths or disappearance from lock-ups were reported in the country in 2016 of which 12 were in Maharashtra, nine each in Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh, five in Madhya Pradesh, four in Punjab, three each in Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh and two in Rajasthan.

A total of 32 people also died or disappeared in the country last year while they were under the remand of the police. These included six each in Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh, four in Maharashtra and two each in Assam, Gujarat, Haryana and Tamil Nadu.

-PTI