IN a shocking revelation, it has come to light that the number of Muslims and Christians languishing in jails on terror charges is more than double of the share of the two communities in the national population.
According to a report – ‘Prison Statics India- 2012’ – prepared by the National Crimes Record Bureau (NCRB), in 2012, as many as 28.02 percent of the total detainees in entire country belonged to the Muslim community while the community constitutes only 13.4% of the national population. The year witnessed an increase in the number of Muslim detainees as in 2011 it was 26.5 percent.
According to the report, the proportion of detainees from Christian minority is also very high. As per the census data, Christians are only 2.3 percent in Indian population but at least 6 percent of those who are staying behind the bars in 2012 belonged to the Christian community.
According to NCRB, any person detained in prison on the orders of competent authority under the relevant preventive detention law is called detenue (detainee).
The report says that a total of 1,922 persons were detained in 2012 and 28.2 percent of it (i.e. 543) were from the Muslim community. According to the 2001 Census, Muslims constitute 13.4% of the total population of the country.
Muslims are far more than their national population share not only among detainees but also among undertrials and convicts.
Out of the total 2,54,857 under trial prisoners, 21 percent (53,638) belonged to Muslim community in 2012. Out of the total convicts in the said year, 17.8 percent (22,687) were Muslims. Interestingly, 53.5 percent of convicted Muslims were lodged in four states Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. Divya Bhaskar
