The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB)’s Crime in India report, which is expected to provide a comprehensive set of crime data, has not only faced repeated delays but also misses critical context on the underlying reasons of a particular crime, such as poverty, unemployment or, even polarisation. Which is why, when the Union Home Ministry was asked about the number of mob lynchings and hate crimes against religious minorities between 2017 and 2022, it told the Parliament that "no separate data