UP has highest number of convicts, over 55% of undertrials are Muslims and Dalits: NCRB

There was a lot of uproar in the nation following the prison break on 31 October by eight members of SIMI (Students Islamic Movement of India) from Bhopal Central Jail after slitting the throat of the jail guard. However, eight hours after their escape, all the eight activists were killed a few kilometres away from the city in a shootout with the police. In the wake of Bhopal prison break, let’s take a look at the prison statistics of 2015 recently published by National Crime Records Bureau. The 21st edition of prison statistics data reveals that Madhya Pradesh is the second state with highest number of inmates (38,458), highest being Uttar Pradesh (88,747). Furthermore, out of the 59.6 percent of the total murder convicts, 15.8 percent were reported from Madhya Pradesh and of the 26.5 percent of total undertrials charged with murder under IPC crimes MP accounts to about 8.5 percent. In an analysis done by The Indian Express, the data for Madhya Pradesh reveals wide gaps between the share of Muslims in their population and the share of Muslims in its jails. In MP, with a share of 7 percent in population, Muslims made up 13 percent of undertrials and 10 percent of convicts. [caption id=“attachment_3086956” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Religion-wise distribution of inmates at the end of 2015. (Image: NCRB)[/caption] Religion-wise distribution of inmates In a religion-wise distribution of inmates at the end of 2015, the data reveals that 72.6 percent (97,471 out of 1,34,168) of convicts lodged in jails profess Hindu religion while 15.8 percent (21,220) were from the Muslim community and the remaining were from other religions. While that under the classification of undertrial prisoners (total of 67.2 percent), people following Hindu religion account for 69.8 percent (1,96,814 out of 2,82,076), while people from Muslim community (59,053) accounted for 20.9 percent and the rest belonged to other religions. Of the 74.2 percent of the total detainees, 67.1 percent belong to the Hindu community while 23.8 percent belong to the Muslim community.