Communal cases: Hyderabad remains on top for 3rd year

Hyderabad, Aug 29: Hyderabad continues to remain on top in terms of communal cases. The city has for the third year in a row reported the maximum number of communal cases which are filed under Section 152A of the Indian Penal Code (Promoting enmity on grounds of religion, race and place of birth).

According to the Crime In India -2021 report released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) on Sunday, Hyderabad took the top slot among the 19 metropolitan cities.

The city reported 28 cases in 2021 following by Delhi (17), Coimbatore (14). The 19 Metros reported 121 cases in 2021 and Hyderabad alone contributed 23 per cent of that.

Telangana state ranks fourth in the country with 86 cases and 88 victims behind Tamil Nadu which reported 91 cases. When compared to 2020, Hyderabad saw a 44 per cent dip in the number of cases.

Most of the cases were on hate speech or actions promoting enmity. The number of riots was the lowest compared to the rest of the metros.

In 2021, Telangana reported 562 cases of rioting of which a majority (135) were related to land disputes. 52 were political, 31 communal, 16 money disputes, 22 family disputes, 50 rivalry, 7 protests, 31 against the police and 235 due to other reasons.

There was a spurt in the number of cybercrimes in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. 10 per cent of these cases of country were reported from Telangana. This has been attributed to senior citizens avoiding going out and making payments online from home using e-wallets and portals.