Bhubaneswar: Odisha’s Tribals, Dalits and Muslims are seemingly law abiding people. Or, the State government seems to have no prejudices toward these marginalised population groups in the society.
The National Crime Research Bureau (NCRB) has found Odisha a better place for Tribals, Dalits and Muslims. The NCRB latest prison data for 2019 found UP, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Jharkhand, West Bengals and Maharashtra jails are having more number of undertrials or convicts belonging to either Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Castes or minority Muslims.
UP jails are filled with Tribals, Dalits and Muslims. The State tops in the country when it comes to the number of Muslims( 21,139) and Dalits ( 17,995) are in prisons as undertrials. Madhya Pradesh (tops the list when it comes to undertrialTtribal prisoners (5,894) in jails. When it comes to number of convicts, UP again tops in having Muslims (6,098) and Dalits (6,143) in jails. Madhya Pradesh tops the list so far as Tribal convicts (5,303) in jails.
UP is followed by Bihar(4,758) and Madhya Pradesh (2,947) in Muslim undertril numbers and Bihar (6,843) and Punjab ( 6,831) in Dalit undertrial numbers in jails. MP is followed by UP (3,984) and Chhattisgarh ( 3,471) in Tribal undertrials in jails. UP is followed by West Bengal (2,369) and Maharashtra (2,114) in Muslim convicts and MP (5,017) and Punjab (2,786) in Dalit convicts in jails. MP is followed by Chhattisgarh ( 2,906) and Jharkhand (1,985) in Tribal convict numbers in jails.
Odisha with 1,024 Dalit convicts in its jails stands at 10th position, with 1,145 Tribal convicts 6th position and with 124 Muslim covicts in its prisons ranks17th among States and Union Territories.
