National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) does not maintain data on 'Hate Crimes' because it is not defined under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Home Ministry told the Rajya Sabha today.
Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai gave the Centre's stock response on queries related to rising hate crime in the country. The Centre had repeatedly maintained that it does not have data on hate crimes, because it is not defined.
When Rajya Sabha MP Syed Nasir Hussain asked if the Centre has taken any steps to curb hate crimes, Rai pointed out that police and public order were state subjects and state governments are responsible for the prevention, detection, registration, and investigation of crime and for prosecuting the criminals through their law enforcement agencies.
"However, the Ministry of Home Affairs has issued advisories to States and Union Territories, from time to time, to maintain law and order and ensure that any person who takes the law into his/her own hands is punished promptly as per law", Rai said in a written reply to the Congress leader.
Hate Crime not defined
The IPC—one of the three foundations of Indian criminal jurisprudence—does not define the parameters of what a "hate crime" is. Specific data regarding attacks against individual community is not maintained centrally, the Centre told the Parliament earlier this year in February.
In February 2022, when asked if the government was aware of hate crimes in the country, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, who was Minority Affairs Minister at the time, had replied that the Centre monitored "internal security and law and order situation in the country" and issued appropriate advisories from time to time to maintain peace, public tranquility and communal harmony.
"Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) are deployed to aid and assist State Governments, on their request, to maintain law and order and public tranquility," Naqvi had said in his February 3, 2022 reply.
Similarly, last year in December Home Ministry told Lok Sabha that in 2017 NCRB collected data on hate crimes and mob lynching. But this was discontinued because the data was "unreliable".
"In the year 2017, NCRB collected data on cases of mob lynching, hate crimes etc. It was observed that the data was unreliable as these crimes etc. have not been defined. Hence, collection of data in this regard was discontinued," Rai had said in a written reply on December 21, 2021.
"The intention of the government is to create a legal structure which is citizen-centric, prioritises to secure life, preserve human rights and provide speedy justice to the vulnerable sections of society," Rai had said when asked if there were plans to define 'hate crime'.
Amending laws "is a continuous process and amendments are made taking into account the views of various stakeholders", he added. The government through "audio-visual media has also generated public awareness to curb the menace of mob lynching", the December 2021 reply read. It further added, "the government has also sensitised the service providers to take steps to check the propagation of false news and rumours having potential to incite mob violence and lynching".
In December 2015, Rajya Sabha MP Nadimul Haque sought a response to rising hate crimes in the country. Kiren Rijiju—he was MoS Home Affairs at the time—had said, "several Sections of the IPC such as Sections 153A, 153B, Sections 295-298 cover crimes relating to acts which outrage religious feelings, disturb religious assembly, wound religious feelings and acts which promote enmity between different groups or are prejudicial to national integration. No significant increase in such crimes has been reported by the State Governments."