(a) whether the Government has any proposal to make stringent laws to identify the elements resorting to damaging public property in the name of Bharat Bandh and make them pay for the damage caused to the public
property;
(b) if so, whether such anti-social elements have been identified during the last three years; and
(c) if so, the details of the action taken against them?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS
(SHRI NIYTANAND RAI)
(a) to (c): ‘Police’ and ‘Public Order’ are State subjects under the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India. The State Governments are responsible for prevention, detection, registration and investigation of crime and for prosecuting the criminals through their law enforcement agencies.
There is a Central Act titled as the ‘The Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984’. ‘Criminal Law’ is in concurrent list and some of the States have made their own laws such as Uttar Pradesh & Punjab.
National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) compiles and publishes data on crimes in its annual publication ‘Crime in India’. The reports are available till the year 2020. Number of cases registered (CR), persons arrested (PAR) and persons charge sheeted (PCS) under the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act during the year 2018 to 2020 is given in the table below:
Year CR PAR PCS
2018 7127 11487 10994
2019 6170 10104 10286
2020 4524 6009 7357
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