Tamil Nadu has the Lowest Convicted/Undertrial Migrant Prisoners In the Country: NCRB (2021)

The NCRB (2021) data reveals that the total number of under-trial prisoners in Tamil Nadu during the year 2020 were 8545. Out of all these under-trail prisoners, there are only 100 under-trail prisoners who came to Tamil Nadu from other states. Thus the proportion of non-Tamil undertrial prisoners in Tamil Nadu is only 1.17 % of the total undertrial prisoners in the state. 

On the other hand, the proportion of non-Gujarati under-trial prisoners in Gujarat is 7.95 % while the proportion of non-Marathi under-trial prisoners in Maharashtra is 25.64%. Both these states are being ruled by BJP. Within South India, this proportion in a BJP-ruled Karnatak is 10.24%.

Such data indicates that both the police administration as well as the people of Tamil Nadu has the least prejudices against migrants from other states. The fakeness in the news about migrants from Bihar being beaten in Tamil Nadu has a lot of support from the crime data collected and compiled by NCRB in recent times.

Read This Too: How Biased Are Maharashtra & Gujarati Police System?

The annual report of NCRB (2021) also reveals that in the case of convicted prisoners in Tamil Nadu, the total number is 4104 while those who belong to states other than Tamil Nadu are merely 12. Thus the proportion of non-Tamil convicted prisoners from other states is merely 0.29% in Tamil Nadu while the same proportion in Gujarat is 4.34% and in Maharashtra is 12.61 %. Within South India, this proportion in a BJP-ruled Karnatak is 6.06%. 

The difference between the proportion of undertrial and convicted migrant prisoners is merely 0.88% while the same is 3.61% in Gujarat, 4.18% in Karnataka and 13.03% in Maharashtra. This explains that the police administration in Gujarat and Maharashtra are biased towards people from other states while the people, as well as the police administration of Tamil Nadu, are the most favourable and friendly towards migrants from other states. 

Migrants in Tamil Nadu: History

According to Indian Census 2011, there were 668488 migrants in Tamil Nadu from different parts of India. This includes 17779 from Bihar, 31602 from Rajasthan, 16358 from Uttar Pradesh, 107983 from Andhra Pradesh and 165723 from Kerala. 

Tamil Nadu has a history of being friendly and favourable towards migrants. Tamil Nadu is perhaps one of the few Indian states which never witnessed violence against migrants from Bihar and UP. The violence against migrants from Bihar and UP has been seen not just in Maharashtra and Gujarat but also in the North-Eastern states during the 1970s.

Despite the fact Tamil Nadu witnessed the most violent and aggressive campaign against the imposition of Hindi language as the national language during the 1950s and 1960s, there has never been any violent or even aggressive campaign against migrants from other states in Tamil Nadu. 

Other States:

It is also reflected in similar data published by NCRB for the year 2005 that Maharashtra and Gujrat were two leading states in India for decades in showing their biases towards the migrants from other parts of India. According to NCRB-2006, there was not a single under trial or convicted prisoner in the state of Tamil Nadu who are migrant in the state. On the other hand, there were 803 (14.2%) under-trial prisoners in Gujarat and 1980 (14.6%) in Maharashtra who were migrants from other states of India. 

Karnataka on the other hand was not biased towards migrants in the past. There were only 124 (1.5%) undertrial prisoners and only 17 (0.42%) convicted prisoners in Karnataka who were migrants from other states. Thus the discriminatory biases towards the migrants in Karnataka have increased during at least the last two decades. 

The history of politics in Maharashtra reveals that the state of Maharashtra was not only against the migrants from the Hindi belt but also against people from South India. During the 1960s and 1970s, Bal Thackeray emerged as an iconic leader in Maharashtra by campaigning against the migrant labourers from South India in Maharashtra. He gave the famous slogan, “Bajao Pungi, Hatao Lungi“.