LUCKNOW: Deaths in police custody and firing murders and cognizable offences are on the rise in the country according to an official crime review report for 1991.

The 149 deaths in poles custody were reported in 1991 as against 112in 1990 Maharashtra accounted for the maximum of 23 custodial deaths seven more than the previous year.

Andhra Pradesh ranked second with 15 custodial death cases followed by Gujarat and Bombay (13 each) compared to seven and six respectively of last year it said.

In Uttar Pradesh there were 10 custodial deaths marking a status quo in the situation while it was on the rise in Rajasthan Kerala and Delhi where numbers of such cases were 11 and six respectively the report said.

“Despite the BD name that it gives to us (police) it is quite obvious that our responses are still not strong enough on the question of custodial deaths se to third degree methods” report said pointing out that” or is one crime for which we can blame no one except ourselves.”

It observed that “the fact that there has been an increase is certainly had reflection on our functioning.”

The report noted that the number of deaths in police firing too was also on the rise.

Deaths in police firing increased to 697 in 1991 from 448 in 1990 with Jammu and Kashmir registering the largest number of deaths 207 in 1991 as against 29 in 1990 followed by Bihar where. 125 persons were killed in 1991 against 83 in the previous year it said.

Andhra Pradesh Punjab and Maharashtra also registered as increase in the number of deaths in police firing the report said It noted that mafia was a crime. to be considered seriously in future and observed that “one of the main sources of money for mafia was the norming of all orders at low rates and this has to be broken if any dent has to be made in this organized crime.”

About mafia crime the report said 123 offences were registered in 1991compared to 47 in 1990. Maharashtra led in this matter with 68 crimes in 1991 as against 25 in 1990 while Uttar Pradesh reported 38 cases in 1991 as against 22 in 1990.

The report said about 100 murders were taking place in the country every day as the number of such cases rose from 35196 in 1990 to 37476 in 1991 registering an increase of 6.4% in 1991.

The largest number of murders (8082) in 1991 took place in Uttar Pradesh followed by Bihar (4527).

This crime has shown an increasing trend in all the states and Union territories except Chandigarh Dadra Meghalaya Mizoram Nagaland and Tamil Nadu.

The report said passport forgery cases registered about 4 fourfold in 1001.

Article extracted from this publication >> June 19, 1992