Politics over registration of crimes in MP

Bhopal, July 21 (UNI) Proper registration of crime, arrests, charge-sheeting and punishment have ironically made Madhya Pradesh a target of political mud-slinging vis-a-vis ''high crime'' statistics.

In India, reported crime is a mere one-fourth of actual crime. As per a senior Indian Police Service officer, in a certain state upto 50 per cent of crimes went unreported and unregistered, official sources said today.

In 1961, following the initiative of Mr B N Malik -- who later became Intelligence Bureau Director -- a drive in Uttar Pradesh led to 40 per cent increase in crime registration in the period of a year.

Due to the steps taken by various chief ministers, registration of crime went up in Madhya Pradesh. Politicising the statistics of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), the main opposition Congress has alleged that the state has the dubious distinction of topping in crimes against tribals.

As per the NCRB's 2006 statistics, Madhya Pradesh was better than 27 states in terms of conviction rate in crime against Scheduled Castes and atrocities against tribals.

UNI AC 2118