{"id":13458,"date":"2017-12-19T15:10:12","date_gmt":"2017-12-19T09:40:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=13458"},"modified":"2017-12-19T15:10:12","modified_gmt":"2017-12-19T09:40:12","slug":"organized-crimes-in-india-an-overview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/organized-crimes-in-india-an-overview\/","title":{"rendered":"Organized crimes in India: an overview"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><u>Context:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Uttar Pradesh government recently gave <strong>its nod to a new law against organised crime in\u00a0Uttar Pradesh<\/strong>along the lines of the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>What is organized crime?<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Organized crime is a category of\u00a0<strong>transnational, national, or local groupings<\/strong> of highly centralized enterprises run by\u00a0criminals.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Performed by: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>It can be performed by <strong>either a member of an organized crime syndicate or on behalf of such syndicate<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Purpose: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Its objective of gaining <strong>pecuniary benefits, or gaining undue economic or other advantage for himself or any person or promoting insurgency<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>Characteristics of organized crime:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Organized crime is considered to be a <strong>changing and flexible phenomenon<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Some criminal organizations, such as\u00a0terrorist groups, are <strong>politically motivated<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Many of the benefits of globalization such <strong>as easier and faster communication, movement of finances and international travel<\/strong>, have also created opportunities for transnational organized criminal groups to flourish, diversify and expand their activities.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Traditional, territorial-based criminal groups<\/strong> have evolved or have been partially <strong>replaced by smaller and more flexible networks<\/strong> with branches across several jurisdictions.<\/li>\n<li>In the course of an investigation, victims, suspects, organized criminal groups and proceeds of crime may be <strong>located in many States<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Moreover, organized crime <strong>affects all States<\/strong>, whether as countries of supply, transit or demand.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>Types of organized crimes: <\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Drug Abuse and Drug Trafficking<\/li>\n<li>Smuggling<\/li>\n<li>Money Laundering &amp; Hawala<\/li>\n<li>Terrorism &amp; Narco-Terrorism<\/li>\n<li>Contract Killings<\/li>\n<li>Kidnapping for Ransom<\/li>\n<li>Illegal Immigration (A large number of Indians are working abroad illegally)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong><u>Recent statistics of organized crimes in India: <\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Recent National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) reported that <strong>as many as 31 riots took place in one year and no FIRs were filed<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>The national capital reported the <strong>highest crime rate among all metropolitan cities<\/strong> in 2016.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Uttar Pradesh tops the list<\/strong> on crimes against women in 2016.<\/li>\n<li>It recorded <strong>5% of the total cases of crimes against women<\/strong>, it accounted for <strong>12.4% of the total number of rape cases. <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>What are the national laws against organized crime in India?<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>India <strong>does not have<\/strong> a national law on organised crime.<\/li>\n<li>But the country has laws related to criminal conspiracy, which are as follows:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Section 120-B of the India Penal Code<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Section 120-B of the India Penal Code <\/strong>provides for punishment for criminal conspiracy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Dacoity and Related Offences:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Dacoity is punishable with imprisonment for life or rigorous imprisonment up to 10 years and five months <strong>(section 395).<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Its subdivisions are:<\/li>\n<li>a) criminalists preparation to commit dacoity <strong>(section 399)<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>b) Assembly for the purpose of committing dacoity <strong>(section 402).<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>c) <strong>Section 400<\/strong> of the Code criminalizes the act of belonging to a \u2018gang\u2019 of persons associated for the purpose of habitually committing dacoities.<\/li>\n<li>d) Kidnapping for ransom, the parliament inserted <strong>Section 364-A<\/strong> in the India Penal.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00a0Gangsters:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>There is <strong>no central legislation to suppress \u2018gang activity\u2019<\/strong> having countrywide applicability.<\/li>\n<li>The State of Uttar Pradesh, most populous and politically most powerful in enacted <strong>Uttar Pradesh Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act, 1986<\/strong>, which is applicable in that State only.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>Are there any state-level laws against organised crime?<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Yes, till now Maharashtra (Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime) and Karnataka (Karnataka Control of Organized Crime Bill)<\/strong> is the only two states to have legislation on this issue.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>What are the national level preventive actions taken in India? <\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>There are two major preventive Acts by the Indian Constitution:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>The National Security Act 1980:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The National Security Act 1980 provides for <strong>preventive detention<\/strong> by the Central Government or the State Government or by the officers designated by this Government.<\/li>\n<li>The detention order is issued for one year with a view to <strong>preventing a person from acting in any manner prejudicial to the defense of India or to the friendly relations with foreign powers<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>The expression \u2018security of India\u2019 is open to liberal interpretation and this Act has been used, though sparingly, against <strong>anti-national elements and hard core gangsters<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Detention is an <strong>executive action and the case does not go to the court for trial<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>The Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act 1988: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act 1988 provides for <strong>detention of persons related with Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>The Central Government or the State Government or designated officers of these Government, can pass an order for detaining a person with a view to <strong>preventing him from engaging in illicit traffic in narcotic drugs<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>What has been proposed for Uttar Pradesh Control of Organised Crimes Act (UPCOCA)? <\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Uttar Pradesh government recently approved a draft of a UPCOCA bill which was on the lines of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).<\/li>\n<li>It has been brought to <strong>check and curb acts of organized crime and mafia<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>The cloud of crimes includes <strong>land grabs, illegal mining, sale of illegal medicine and illicit liquor, wildlife smuggling, extortion, abduction syndicates as well as white-collared criminals.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>What are the loopholes in the laws against crimes in India? <\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Inadequate Legal Structure:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>India does not have a special law to control\/suppress organised crime.<\/li>\n<li>The existing general conspiracy law and relevant specialActs law <strong>is inadequate as it targets individuals and not the criminal groups or criminal enterprises.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Difficulties in Obtaining Proof:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>As organised criminal groups are structured in a hierarchical manner, <strong>the higher echelons of leadership are insulated from law enforcement. <\/strong><\/li>\n<li>It may be possible to have the actual perpetrators of crime convicted, but it is difficult to go beyond them in the hierarchy because of <strong>rules of evidence, particularly, non-admissibility of confessions made by criminals before the police<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>No legal backing for witness: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The witnesses are not willing to depose for fear of their lives and there is <strong>no law to provide protection to the witnesses against organized gangs. <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Lack of Resources &amp; Training:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Most of the States face <strong>a resources crunch<\/strong> and are <strong>not in the position to spare adequate resources<\/strong> for the criminal justice system agencies.<\/li>\n<li>Also the <strong>number of police personnel<\/strong> posted in police stations is inadequate.<\/li>\n<li>Besides, <strong>hardly any training facilities<\/strong> exist for the investigation of organised crimes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Lack of Co-ordination:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>India <strong>does not have a national level agency<\/strong> to co-ordinate the efforts of the State\/city police organisations as well as\u00a0central enforcement agencies, for combating organised crime.<\/li>\n<li>Further, there is <strong>no agency to collect, collate, analyse, document and function as a central exchange of information<\/strong> relating to international and inter-state gangs operating in India and abroad.<\/li>\n<li>Similarly, there is <strong>no system of sustained pursuit<\/strong> of selected gangs at the national and State level.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Problems of coordination in the government: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Apart from lack of institutional frame-work, there are problems of coordination between the Central Government and the State Governments and between one State Government and another State Government <strong>due to differences in political perceptions. <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>Way forward: <\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Modern organized crime <strong>constitutes a global challenge <\/strong>that must be met with a concerted, global response.<\/li>\n<li>The police department has to been given a <strong>free hand to deal effectively<\/strong> with troublemakers.<\/li>\n<li>Most importantly <strong>no politician should give patronage<\/strong> to the criminals in lieu of money or power.<\/li>\n<li>Most of the crimes are communicated through wires or internet; thus, <strong>the cybersecurity needs to be strict and under continuous surveillance. \u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>The government should <strong>introduce hi-tech software and machineries<\/strong> in order to keep a track on the high alert areas.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Context: The Uttar Pradesh government recently gave its nod to a new law against organised crime in\u00a0Uttar Pradeshalong the lines of the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). What is organized crime? Organized crime is a category of\u00a0transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by\u00a0criminals. Performed by: It can be&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/organized-crimes-in-india-an-overview\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Organized crimes in India: an overview<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":13469,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-editorials","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/crime.jpg?fit=1003%2C529&ssl=1","views":{"total":3208,"cached_at":1612334535},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13458\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}