Jat stir puts Haryana on third spot in cases of offences against state
Tamil Nadu, UP top list with 1827 and 1414 cases
CHANDIGARH : : Haryana has earned the dubious status of having one of the highest number of cases of offences against state in the country in 2016, thanks to Jat quota protests that year.
The latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB)-2016 report reveals that Haryana ranked third in the country with 1,286 cases with Tamil Nadu topping the list with 1,827 cases and Uttar Pradesh ranking second with 1,414 cases.
In Haryana, all the cases were registered against protesters during the violent Jat stir for quota that shook the state.
While at least 30 persons lost their lives in large-scale violence and arson, public and private property worth crores was gutted or badly damaged by the violent rioters.
While the number of offences against the state remained 536 in 2015, their number was 1,051 in 2014 when hundreds of followers of self-styled godman Rampal had a week-long standoff with police in November that year, leaving six people dead.
About the cases registered in 2016, Haryana director general of police (DGP) BS Sandhu said almost all the cases were registered against the accused during the Jat stir.
He admitted that the state police had also lodged a large number of similar cases against Dera Sacha Sauda followers for violent attack on security forces
and the public after the conviction of sect head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh on August 25 this year. He was convicted in rape cases by a special CBI court in Panchkula the same day.
Of a of total 1,286 cases of offences against state in 2016, 14 were registered for sedition, four for imputation, assertion prejudicial
to national integration while 1,265 cases were of prevention of damage to public property. Of the 1,756 accused arrested in 2016 for cases of offences against the state, 16 were women. As many 79 men have been convicted, 756 have been acquitted, while cases against remaining are under trial.