New Delhi: Lynching, crime against RTI activists, journalists, social activists and others were not included in a number of parameters of National Crime Records Bureau as it released the crime data for the year 2017 late on Monday.
"NCRB did not include murder due to lynching and other heads as data based on these parameters was assessed as 'vague/unreliable'," a home ministry official said.
Reports say data on killing by khap panchayats, murder on religious grounds and murder committed by influential people had also been excluded.
The NCRB, under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, is responsible for collecting and analysing crime data as defined by the Indian Penal Code and special and local laws in the country.
The annual crime data for 2017 was released after a delay of more than a year.
The data revealed that the number of murder cases has declined by 5.9 per cent with 28,653 cases of killings registered in the year, down from 30,450 in 2016.
In the year 2017, there were around seven incidents of mob lynchings, including the lynching of Pehlu Khan, which was caught on camera as well.
In 2018, the Supreme Court had condemnded the incidents of lynching that were reported from across the country and had urged the central government to bring in a separate act declaring lynching as an offence with punishment. In July 2018, Minister of State for Home Hansraj Ahir had told the Parliament that there was no data on mob lynching, since the NCRB does not collect the same.