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INTRODUCTION

A crime is defined as any act that is contrary to legal code or laws. There are
many different types of crimes, from crimes against persons to victimless
crimes and violent crimes to white collar crimes. With each type of crime also
come different sociological phenomena and demographic profiles.

Crime in India exists in various forms taking note of drug


trafficking, gunrunning, money laundering, extortion, murder for hire,
fraud, human trafficking, poaching and prostitution. Many criminal operations
engage in black marketing, political violence, religiously motivated violence,
terrorism, and abduction. Other crimes are homicide, robbery, assault etc.
Property crimes include burglary, theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson.
Corruption is a significant problem.

A report published by the National Crime Records Bureau compared the crime
rates of 1953 and 2006. The report noted that burglary declined over a period of
53 years by 79.84%, murder has increased by 7.39%. Kidnapping has increased
by 47.80%, robbery has declined by 28.85% and riots have declined by 10.58%.

In 2006, 5,102,460 cognisable crimes were committed including


1,878,293 Indian Penal Code (IPC) crimes and 3,224,167 Special & Local Laws
(SLL) crimes, with an increase of 1.5% over 2005. IPC crime rate in 2006 was
167.7 compared to 165.3 in 2005 showing an increase of 1.5% in 2006 over
2005. SLL crime rate in 2006 was 287.9 compared to 290.5 in 2005 showing a
decline of 0.9% in 2006 over 2005.

There were 61.8 million criminal cases reported in 1998 with a rate of 6366 per
million populations. 77.8% of cases investigated were charge sheeted in a court
of law. There were 5.7 million cases pending in courts of which trail was

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completed in 15.8% of cases and of these, 37.4% cases ended in conviction.
There are 41.6 police personnel per sq. kilometres and 1360 per million
populations. 634 police personnel were killed on duty during 1998.

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A SOCIOLOGICAL LOOK AT CRIMES

Arrest data show a clear pattern of arrests in terms of race, gender, and class.
For instance, as mentioned above, young, urban, poor, and racial minorities
generally commit personal and property crimes more so than other demographic
groups. To sociologists, the question posed by this data is whether this reflects
actual differences in committing crimes among different groups or whether this
reflects differential treatment by the criminal justice system. Studies show that
the answer here is “both.” Certain groups are in fact more likely to commit
crimes than others because crime is linked to patterns of inequality in the United
States. However, the process of prosecution in the criminal justice system is
also significantly related to patterns of race, class, and gender inequality. We
see this in the official arrest statistics, in treatment by the police, in sentencing
patterns, and in studies of imprisonment.

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ORGANIZED CRIMES

Organized crime is crime committed by structured groups typically involving


the distribution of illegal goods and services to others. Many people think of the
Mafia when they think of organized crime, but the term can refer to any group
that exercises control over large illegal enterprises (such as the drug trade,
illegal gambling, prostitution, weapons smuggling, or money laundering).

A key sociological concept in the study or organized crime is that these


industries are organized along the same lines as legitimate businesses and take
on a corporate form. There are typically senior partners who control the
business’ profits, workers who manage and work for the business, and clients
who buy the goods and services that the organization provides.

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CRIMES AGAINST WOMEN

Earlier, many cases were not registered with the police due to the social stigma
attached to rape and molestation cases but now that there has been a dramatic
increase in the number of reported crimes against women.
Sexual harassment: Eve teasing has now become source of sexual harassment or
molestation of women by men. Many activists blame the rising incidents of
sexual harassment against women on the influence of Western culture. In 1987,
the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act was passed to prohibit
indecent representation of women through publications, writings and paintings
or in any other manner.
Dowry: The Government of India passed the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 to
make the dowry demands in wedding arrangements illegal. However, it is one
of the reasons for murders and suicides by women. According to these rules, a
signed list of presents given at the time of the marriage to the bride and the
bridegroom should be maintained. The list should contain a brief description of
each present, its approximate value, the name of whoever has given the present
and his/her relationship to the person. However, such rules are hardly
enforced. India is witnessing lot of bride burning cases.
Child marriage: It has been traditionally prevalent in India especially in regions
of Rajasthan, Gujarat etc. Although child marriage was outlawed in 1860, it is
still a common practice.
Female feticides and Infanticides: All medical tests that can be used to
determine the sex of the child have been banned in India. Female infanticide is
still prevalent in some rural areas. The sex ratio is the poorest in Punjab and
Haryana.
Domestic violence: It is practiced more commonly in lower Socio-Economic
Classes. It is seen in the form of physical abuse.

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Trafficking: The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act was passed in 1956.
However, many such cases of young girls and women have been reported.
These women are either forced into prostitution or domestic work. Now, mostly
every day, we find same sort of news. Young girls are abducted, raped, sold. It
has become a risk letting the girls play outside home.

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ILLICIT DRUG TRAFFICKING

India has been enduring the scourge of drug trafficking for three decades. The
country’s proximity to two of the world’s largest illicit opium growing areas as
well as various external and internal factors have contributed to it becoming a
transit, source and a destination for drugs. The trends and patterns of drug
trafficking in the country demonstrates that there is a gradual shift from
traditional/natural drugs towards synthetic drugs that are being trafficked and
consumed in the country. In the 1980s, a large quantity of heroin and hashish
was smuggled in from the source areas into the country through various borders.
While these drugs are still trafficked, albeit in lesser quantities, the share of
synthetic drugs such as ATS and codeine based pharmaceutical preparations has
gone up tremendously. Persistence of drug trafficking over the years implies
that the sanctity of the borders is being breached and their security
compromised. Various studies and newspaper reports indicate that drug
consumption and trafficking are in fact showing an increasing trend.

To deal with the problem of drug trafficking and to protect the country’s
borders against such infringements, India has employed a mix of measures. On
the one hand, it has enacted stringent anti-drug laws, co-opted various voluntary
organisations and sought to strengthen the physical security of its borders by
various means; on the other hand it has been seeking the cooperation of its
neighbours and other countries through several bilateral and multilateral
agreements. These efforts have only been partially successful in dealing with
the problem.

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ILLEGAL FIREARMS TRAFFICKING

According to a joint report published by Oxfam, Amnesty International and


the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) in 2006, there are
around 40 million illegal small arms in India out of approximately 75 million in
worldwide circulation. Majority of the illegal small arms make its way into the
states of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Orissa and Madhya
Pradesh. In India, a used AK-47 costs Rs. 2, 37,000 in black market. Large
amount of illegal small arms are manufactured in various illegal arms factories
in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar and sold on the black market for as little as Rs. 320.

Chinese pistols are in demand in the illegal small arms market in India because
they are easily available and cheaper. This trend poses a significant problem for
the states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Orissa,
Maharashtra, West Bengal, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh which have
influence of Naxalism. The porous Indo-Nepal border is an entry point for
Chinese pistols, AK-47 and M-16 rifles into India as these arms are used by the
Naxalites who have ties to Maoists in Nepal.

In North-East India, there is a huge influx of small arms due to the insurgent
groups operating there. The small arms in North-East India come from
insurgent groups in Burma, black market in South-East Asian countries
like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka, black market in Cambodia, the
People's Republic of China, insurgent groups like the Liberation Tigers of Tamil
Eelam, the Communist Party of India (Maoist), the Communist Party of Nepal
(Maoist), Indian states like Uttar Pradesh and pilferages from legal gun
factories, criminal organisations operating in India and South Asian countries
and other international markets like Romania, Germany etc. The small arms
found in North-East India are M14 rifle, M16 rifle, AK-47, AK-56, AK-

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74, light machine guns, Chinese hand grenades, mines, rocket-propelled
grenades, submachine guns etc.

The Ministry of External Affairs and Ministry of Home Affairs drafted a joint
proposal to the United Nations, seeking a global ban on small-arms sales to non-
state users.

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HUMAN (WOMEN AND CHILDREN) TRAFFICKING

Commercial sex in India is a 400000 million Rupees annual business. Thirty per
cent of the sex workers are children who earn about Rupees 110000 million
every year. There could be about 0.3 million child sex workers in India of which
0.1 million could be less than 18 years of age. 15% of the sex workers are in the
six metropolitan cities of Mumbai, Calcutta, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore and
Hyderabad. Delhi receives sex workers from 70 districts, Mumbai from 40,
Bangalore from 10 and Calcutta from 11 districts. Some sex workers have also
come from Nepal and Bangladesh.

Mumbai and Goa have had incidence of paedophilic offences too. These places
draw a number of foreign tourists. Fear of AIDS has contributed to the
involvement of minor girls in the business because demand for virgins has
increased exponentially with the fear of infection. There is also a myth that
young girls in their pre-puberty cannot be infested with AIDS. A number of
young girls from southern India have been sent to the Arab countries. There
have also been reports that India has served as a transit point for trafficking of
young virgins from Nepal, Myanmar and Bangladesh to the Middle East, mostly
Dubai.

Suppression of Immoral Traffic in Women and Girls Act, 1956 was the main
Act to deal with these offences. This Act was amended in 1978 and was re-
enacted under the name of ‘Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act in 1986’ to rectify
some lacunae in the older Act. Punishment could be imprisonment for a period
of 7-10 years or for life. Indian Penal Code stipulates that sexual intercourse
with or without her consent with a girl less than 16 years of age amounts to rape
punishable with imprisonment for life.

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National Commission for Women is a body that reviews laws, conducts
inquiries for redressed of complaints, undertakes promotional research for
policies, advises the Government and ensures custodial justice for women.
Section 10 (4) of National Commission for Women Act, 1992 gives the
Commission powers of a Civil Court. The National Commission for Women has
formed an Expert Committee and has formulated a ten year National Plan of
Action (1997-2006) to co-ordinate with the ninth and tenth Indian Five Year
Plans. There were 8695 cases reported under the Immoral Traffic (Prevention)
Act in 1998.

The number of cases showed a steadily declining trend up to 1996 but increased
by 4.5 % over 1997. 15363 cases of kidnapping of women and girls were
reported in 1998, which were up by 4.8 % over the previous year. 146 cases of
importation of girls were reported in 1998 compared to 78 cases in the previous
year showing an increase of 87.2 %. 171 cases of procuration of minor girls
were reported in 1998 as against 87 in 1997 but 206 in 1994. 11 cases of selling
of minor girls for prostitution, 13 cases of buying minor girls for prostitution
and 699 cases of kidnapping of minor girls were reported. 17247 male and 1217
female offenders were arrested for kidnapping and abduction of women and
girls. 12879 persons (11617 males and 1262 females) were arrested under the
Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act.

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MONEY LAUNDERING

In India, money laundering is indulged in mainly by corporate houses to evade


taxes unlike in some other countries where it is mostly related to illicit drug
trafficking. Non-resident Indians have been given some special banking
facilities. These facilities are misused to bring back the money as white money.
For example, a portfolio account is opened in a foreign country and the money
is laundered back to be invested in the stock markets.

Another modus operandi is to launder the money through bogus exports. The
conversion of black money is done by over invoicing of the product to countries
like Russia and the former Soviet Republic countries. Some shell companies are
set up to issue bill or invoices accompanied by bogus transport receipt in order
to obtain funds against these documents from bank/financial institutions and
then divert major part of such proceeds by issue of cheques in the names of non-
existent front companies of cheque discounters. The cheque discounters then
handover cash immediately to the party after deduction of their commission.
The cheque discounters are generally associated with commodities market
where fake transactions in commodities can largely go unnoticed. The cheque
discounters also issue fake Letters of Credit and false bills. The cheque
discounters file income tax returns in which the commission is shown as taxable
income. In India, tackling problem of laundered money is correlated with the
problem of tackling black money. There is a wide gap between the number of
persons with taxable income and the numbers who actually pay income tax.
This is despite the requirement of compulsory filing of income tax returns by
anyone having taxable income. Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act makes
the pseudo owner the real owner of the benami property. Tax raids and seizures,
penalties and prosecution have been some of the measures to check black

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money. However, success has not been satisfactory. Certain special measures
such as Voluntary Disclosure Scheme under which the evader discloses income
on promise of concessional rates and immunity from penalties and prosecution.
There have been other schemes like issue of Special Bearer Bonds, Special
Levy on deposits in the National Housing Bank, waiver of penalty and interest,
foreign Remittance Scheme in 1991-92, India Development Bonds, and Gold
Bond Scheme of 1992. Money laundering had so far been dealt with under the
Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1973, but with effect from June, 2000,
FERA has been replaced by Foreign Exchange Maintenance Act and a Bill to
enact money laundering law to be named The Prevention of Money Laundering
Bill has been introduced in the Parliament by the Government of India. Money
laundering has been proposed to be a cognizable crime punishable with rigorous
imprisonment of 3-7 years which could be extended to 10 years and a fine up to
Rupees 0.5 million. The acquisition, possession or owning of money, movable
and immovable assets, from crime, especially drugs and narcotics crimes, would
tantamount to money laundering.

Concealment of information on proceeds or gains from crime made within India


or abroad is an offence too. An adjudicating authority is proposed which would
have powers to confiscate properties of money launderers. An administrator
may be appointed to manage the confiscated assets. An appellate tribunal is
proposed to be set up with three members to hear appeals from the orders of the
adjudicating authority. The rulings of the adjudicating authority are thus not
contestable in the local courts. Financial institutions are expected to maintain
transaction records and furnish these to the adjudicating authority. Failure to do
so is punishable too. The alternative remittance system through non-banking
channels is called Hawala in India. It is based on trust in which the remitter pays
the Hawala dealer in foreign country and the associate of the Hawala dealer
pays the receiver in the home country. Since Hawala dealings are illegal, the

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transactions take place through word of mouth or other non-conventional means
of communication. Since there is no audit, no control and no check, anonymity
of the customers is maintained. There are hawala dealers in India and wherever
people from Indian sub-continent are settled. Hawala routes are used both by
ordinary people as well as drug traffickers, terrorists and unscrupulous
businessmen.

In one of the cases of money laundering dealt with by the Central Bureau of
Investigation, an organized group of the Hawala dealers operating from London
and Dubai used to receive remittances from foreign banks for transferring to
India. A telephonic message in coded words would be passed to agents in India
to pay money in Indian rupees. The remittances so received by the above
mentioned persons in dollars or Pound Sterling at London and Dubai were used
for purchase of gold, drugs, arms, ammunitions and explosives through the
underworld. The arms, ammunitions and explosives were used to be smuggled
into India and sold to various criminal/terrorist groups while the drug used to be
distributed to the traffickers.

Electronic Payment Technologies are coming to India and these are going to
pose new challenges to Law Enforcement Agencies. The anonymity in
transactions is bound to promote money laundering and other offences. The
money launderer finds the electronic money easy to convert and transfer, and
safe to store. The format of legal framework, code of conduct of business and
self-regulation regarding e-commerce is under examination.

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