In a first, Centre to release National Registry of Sexual Offenders today

Database of the sex offenders' registry will be maintained by the NCRB.

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NEW DELHI: In a big move aimed at curbing crimes against women, the Centre will release National Registry of Sexual Offenders on Thursday.

The National Registry of Sexual Offenders - the first-of-its-kind - will have key details like names, photographs, residential address, fingerprints, DNA samples, and PAN and Aadhaar numbers, of convicted sexual offenders, according to reports.

The database of the sex offenders' registry will be maintained by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). The database will have information related to more than 4.5 lakh cases. The cases will have profiles of first-time and repeat offenders. 

The details will be collected from jails across the country.

The move comes against the backdrop of a nearly three-percent increase in crimes against women and a 12-percent rise in rapes in 2016 as compared to 2015. 

"The national registry of crimes against women will be launched soon. The records are being sourced from the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) ," a senior Union Home Ministry official had said last month. 

The National Crime Records Bureau will be the nodal agency to maintain the sex-offenders' registry. It will help the law-enforcement agencies in identifying the repeat offenders, while people, too, would be aware of those involved in sex crimes, the official said. 

According to the NCRB data, at least 38,947 rape cases were registered in 2016, against 34,651 in 2015. Overall crimes against women rose from 3,29,243 in 2015 to 3,38,954 in 2016. 

A majority of cases categorised as crimes against women were reported under cruelty by husband or his relatives (32.6 percent), followed by assault on woman with intent to outrage her modesty (25 percent), kidnapping and abduction of women (19 percent), and rape (11.5 percent). 

Ahead of India, UK, US, Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa and Trinidad & Tobago have been maintaining the data of sex offenders. In the US, documents can be accessed by public, but in India, the details will be available only to law enforcement agencies.