india

Updated: Dec 02, 2017 09:35 IST

As crimes against foreigners spiked in 2016, those committed by non-natives residing in India has declined over the last three years, National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data suggests.

In 2016, a total of 1,226 cases were registered against foreigners from 47 countries under charges ranging from theft to murder and rape, with West Bengal registering the most, followed by New Delhi and Karnataka.

The national capital, with 154 of the total 382 cases of crimes against non-natives, has emerged as the most unsafe for foreigners accounting for almost 40% of the crimes committed against tourists last year.

12 foreigners were murdered in 2016, 38 molested and 19 allegedly raped. Most of the other cases are of theft.

The NCRB has not provided a breakup of countries the foreigners hail from against whom crime was committed or those accused of crimes,

A home ministry official told HT that the NCRB had started the process of collecting country-wise data, when asked about the lack of it in the report.

Interestingly, the NCRB has mentioned Rohingyas — a persecuted minority Muslim community who belong to the Rakhine province in Myanmar — as a separate entity while naming 47 countries.

The home ministry official also said that NCRB cannot name all the 200 countries, and so, had mentioned “groupings of countries to which most of the accused belong to”.

In September, HT had through RTI sought information on criminal cases across the country in which Rohingyas are named as accused. The NCRB had in response said that the information was not available.

The official speaking to HT on anonymity, said that Rohingya were not named in the report however a copy of the NCRB report clearly shows the name in chapter 13. In fact under section Changes/Improvements in Current Publication (2016) there is a clause which reads Nationality of foreigners accused and victims has been added in chapter 13, indicating that the section might have been added at a later stage of writing the report. The 2015 report does not mention any country as well.

The home ministry official also said that NCRB cannot name all the 200 countries, and so, had mentioned “groupings of countries to which most of the accused belong to”.The NCRB however does mention Myanmar as one of the 47 countries.

The official speaking to HT on anonymity, also claimed that Rohingya were not named in the report however a copy of the NCRB report clearly shows the name in chapter 13.

In fact under section Changes/Improvements in Current Publication (2016) there is a clause which reads “Nationality of foreigners accused and victims has been added in chapter 13”, indicating that the section might have been added at a later stage of writing the report. The 2015 report does not mention any country as well.

Other disclosures in the data show that last year, of the 382 crimes against foreign nationals, 154 cases were from Delhi, followed by Maharashtra (38 cases) and Puducherry (33 cases).

In the category of crimes committed by foreigners, 1,226 cases were registered across the country. West Bengal topped the list with 520 cases, followed by Delhi with 143 cases and Karnataka with 91. Another 80 cases were registered in Goa and 64 in Tamil Nadu.

A total of 656 people, almost half of the total crimes by foreigners, were booked under the Foreigner Act of 1946 which is mostly used for offences like over-staying and visa violations with West Bengal reporting 517 cases.

Delhi tops the list of crimes registered against foreigners under Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act with 21 cases followed by Karnataka with 15 cases. There have been 23 cases under Arms Act and 58 under Passport Act.

Murder (11 cases), rape (12 cases), cheating (75 cases) and forgery (53 cases) include most of the crimes in which foreigners are accused.

Out of total crimes committed against foreigners, most were thefts, but was followed by crimes like molestation, rape insulting modesty of women.

19 foreign women were raped and 40 others molested, most of them tourists.