Bhubaneswar: The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has released the crime data for 2017 after a gap of three years. The NCRB data reveals that the state has witnessed a sharp rise in incidents of industrial violence, communal violence and political violence in 2017.
As per the report, there were around 2,407 incidents of riots reported across Odisha involving 2,725 victims in the above said year. The state is at the seventh position in the incidents of rioting and it recorded 81 cases of riots by the enraged mob at various industrial complexes across the state. The data indicates a negative response to the state government’s ambitious industrial drive.
The NCRB report for 2017 also proved the fact that differences among the political parties in Odisha have been rapidly turning into violent incidents every year. The report reveals that Odisha with 210 cases of political riots held the second position in the list. Kerala, which tops the list, has recorded a massive 980 cases of political riots in 2017.
Similarly, Odisha which has been considered a relatively peaceful state in the country surprisingly witnessed 91 communal and religious violence incidents holding third position among all the 29 states and union territories of the country in 2017. Only two states, Bihar with 163 and Karnataka 92, were ahead of Odisha while more communal states like Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal reported fewer cases of communal violence than Odisha.
The state reported two cases of sectarian violence and 17 cases of caste violence in 2017.
However, it reported only 11 cases of rioting by the agitating farmers and the students each in 2017. This apart, the state also reported around 100 riots over property related disputes in the year.
Recently, the opposition parties severely criticised the Union government for the delay in publishing the report by the NCRB that passed the buck to the states.