NCRB report: Punjab third in country in NDPS cases, but rate per lakh highest

Jupinderjit Singh

Chandigarh, August 31

Once at top of the country in the number of drug trafficking cases, Punjab is now placed third though the state’s crime rate of 32.8 per lakh population in this category remains at the top in the country. The rate means about 33 persons per lakh indulged in drug smuggling.

The crime data of all states for the year 2021 released by the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) earlier this year reveals Uttar Pradesh with 10,432 FIRs under the NDPS Act was at the top followed by Maharashtra at 10,078 cases while Punjab had 9,972 cases.

In an explanatory note on the interpretation of data, the NCRB said, “As crime increases with population, crime per lakh population (crime rate) may be a better indicator to assess increase or decrease in crime. However, there is a word of caution. The primary presumption that the upward swing in police data indicates an increase in crime and thus a reflection of the ineffectiveness of the police is fallacious. ‘Rise in crime’ and ‘increase in registration of crime by the police’ are clearly two different things.”

The state is sixth in the country overall in the category of possessing drugs for consumption. It registered 4,206 cases (out of a total 9,972) but the rate of consumption per lakh is 13.8 meaning about 14 persons out of given one lakh persons would be drug consumers. Punjab is third in the category topped by Kerala (14.3) and Arunachal Pradesh (14.2).

The state tops in the category of possessing drugs for trafficking. The NCRB report says 5,766 cases (out of a total 9,972) were registered against persons for possessing drugs for smuggling. The rate of 19 persons per lakh indulging in drug smuggling is the country’s highest. Himachal Pradesh is a distant second with 14.7 persons per lakh involved in drug smuggling.

Punjab topped the country in the registration of cases from 2016-2018. It was second in the country in 2019 and 2020. Drug smuggling has remained a much-debated social, criminal and political issue in the state. The incidence had gone high forcing the government to form a Special Task Force (STF) against drugs.