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EM Bureau
Dimapur, Sep. 1 (EMN): Nagaland has shared second place for the state with the most number of sedition cases reported in the country, according to the National Crime Records Bureau's (NCRB) 'Crime In India - 2021' report.
The maximum cases were reported from Andhra Pradesh (29) followed by Manipur and Nagaland (seven each), Haryana (five), Delhi (four), and Uttar Pradesh and Assam (three each) in 2021.
Overall, Nagaland lodged 10 cases of offences against the state -- seven under sedition, two under ‘others’ Section 121-123 of IPC, and one under ‘imputation, assertions prejudicial to national integration’.
Meanwhile, there were 15 cases pending investigation from the previous year. It further stated that three cases were disposed off due to ‘insufficient evidence, or untraced or no clue’ and only six cases were charge-sheeted, two from the previous year and four during 2021.
Across India, a total of 76 cases of sedition (under IPC 124A), 814 cases under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and 55 cases under the Official Secrets Act (OAS) were lodged.
The maximum offences against the state were lodged under the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act (4,078 cases), the NCRB data showed.
The maximum cases of UAPA were reported from Manipur (157) followed by Assam (95), Jharkhand (86), Uttar Pradesh (83), Jammu and Kashmir (289). Delhi lodged five cases of UAPA in 2021, it added.
Meanwhile, India lodged 5,164 cases of offences against the state, including those under sedition, official Secrets Act, and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, in 2021 with an average of 14 cases every day, according to latest government data.
The cases showed a decline in 2021 when compared to 2020 and 2019, which saw 5,613 and 7,656 filed, the report showed.
Besides 5,164 new such cases, 8,600 cases pending investigation were carried forward from last year and three cases were reopened for probe.
This pushed the total number of cases pending investigations in 2021 to 13,767, the NCRB's annual report showed.
Of the total such cases last year, 79.2 per cent were registered under The Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act (4,089 cases) followed by 814 cases (15.8 per cent) under The Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, data showed.
The average charge-sheeting rate across the country stood at 78 per cent in 2021, according to the official data.
The maximum cases under the broader 'offences against the state' category were lodged in Uttar Pradesh with 1,862 cases in 2021, down from 2,217 in 2020 and 2,107 in 2019, the report stated.
UP was followed by Tamil Nadu (654), Assam (327), Jammu and Kashmir (313) and West Bengal (274) among the states that lodged the highest number of offences against the state. (With inputs from PTI)