Maharashtra tops in number of communal violence

New Delhi: India has registered 6464 incidents of communal violence since 2000 to September this year with Maharashtra topping the states with maximum number of such cases. The country witnessed 6464 incidents, including 693 incidents this year.

While 2393 people were killed, about 21,077 people were injured in these violent incidents, a statement circulated at the National Integration Council meeting on Monday said. Maharashtra has witnessed 1046 incidents of communal violence in which 151 people have been killed and 4037 injured.

However, casualty wise, Gujarat remains on the top of the list as 1092 people, including 977 alone in 2002, lost their lives and 4021 were injured due to riot clashes. Orissa, where attacks against Christians are continuing, has witnessed 309 such cases, including 158 incidents this year. Around 63 people have been killed, including 41 this year till September, it said.

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Uttar Pradesh occupies the second slot with respect to the number of incidents. As many as 942 incidents have occurred in the state during this period in which 339 people were killed and 3081 were injured.

Kerala has come across 159 such incidents which claimed 31 lives and injured 388 people. Six states - Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland - did not witness a single incident of communal violence in this period, indicating that they have been maintaining communal harmony.

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States like Tripura, Uttaranchal and Goa have witnessed stray cases of communal violence. Karnataka, where communal violence was reported recently, has recorded 580 cases in which 64 people were killed and 2016 injured. Bihar is not far behind in the list as the state registered 429 such cases that took away 215 lives and injured 1006 people. Delhi recorded 67 such incidents in this period.

Similarly Madhya Pradesh reported 801 incidents of communal violence with 115 people being killed and 2073 injured in the attacks. Surprisingly, Jammu and Kashmir has not been much affected by such incidents. The state registered only 12 such cases as three persons were killed and 44 injured.

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In Assam, 21 people were killed during the period in 49 incidents of communal violence, the statement said. The nation-wide figure stated that the country has been witnessing nearly 700 such cases every year.

The number of cases recorded in 2000 stands at 599 which rose to 824 the next year and then remained at 722, 711, 677, 779, 698 and 761 in 2002, 03, 04, 05, 06 and 07 respectively.

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