Hindus least likely to be tried, detained or convicted for crime in India, says NCRB

Sikhs and Christians are more likely to be undertrials, detenues and convicts than Hindus and Muslims in India, says a National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report.

According to an article in IndiaSpend, Hindus are least likely to be undertrials and convicts. Christians are most likely to be detained and imprisoned. The NCRB released this data in the Prison Statistics India 2014 report, in September.

As a percentage, there are more Sikhs in prison than followers of any other faith in India. 840 Sikhs per million are in prison followed by Christians (601), Muslims (477) and Hindus (305). Sikhs make up just 4% of India's population according to the 2011 Census.

In India there are a total of 4,18,536 prisoners, of which 282,879 are undertrials followed by convicts (131,517), detenues (3,237) and other prisoners (903). 346 Indians per million are prisoners. The proportion of Sikh and Christian undertrials in Indian prisons is two times their proportion in the general population, says the NCRB report.

The proportion of Sikh convicts is three times their proportion in the general population For Christians, the figure is two times.

State wise, Punjab seems to harbour the greatest Sikh undertrials. The second and third highest are Haryana and Rajasthan. The 3 states together account for 83% of all Sikh undertrials in the country. The highest number of Christian undertrials comes from Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand and Orissa. These three states account for 46% of undertrials.

A total of 282,879 people are undertrials in Indian jails. 70% of these undertrials are Hindu, 21% Muslim, 4% Christian and 4% Sikh. Of 131,157 convicts, 72% of convicts (95,348) are Hindus, 16% (21,550) are Muslim, 4% Christian and 6% Sikh, says the report.

The proportion of undertrials who are Hindus (70%) is 9.7% less than their proportion in the general population (79.7%). The proportion of Muslim undertrials is 7% more than their proportion in the general population.

Furthermore, 490 per million Sikhs are undertrials, the highest for any faith. The overall figure for India is 234 undertrials per million people. 397 per million Christians, 346 per million Muslims and 204 per million Hindus are undertrials.

The proportion of Hindu convicts (72%) is almost 8% less than their proportion in the general population (79.7%). The proportion of Muslim convicts is 2% more than their proportion in the general population.

350 per million Sikhs are convicts, the highest for any faith. The national figure is 109 convicts per million people. 185 per million Christians are convicts, compared to 125 per million Muslims and 99 per million Hindus.

The report also adds that there was an 18% increase in undertrial prisoners across India over the past five years.

Among these, Christian undertrials increased the most - 53% - from 7,198 in 2010 to 11,048 in 2014; however, there was a decline of 11% in 2014 over 2013. There was also an increase of 5% in convicts over the past five years, in India.

State wise, Uttar Pradesh ranks highest in terms of total number of undertrials. UP has 200 million people. Next is Bihar, with 26,800 undertrials. Maharashtra comes third with 19,895 undertrials. Madhya Pradesh and Punjab follow.

Delhi's poor reputation continues as it has the highest number of undertrials per million people - 606. Dadra and Nagar Haveli come second with 579, followed by Mizoram and Haryana. Lastly, the NCRB report says that there are 3,237 detenues in jails across India. Of these 63% (2,030) are Hindu, 20% (658) are Muslim and 16% (505) are Christians.