The Ministry of Home Affairs on Tuesday told Parliament that 111 people died in 822 communal incidents in India last year, PTI reported. The number of communal incidents have risen since 2015 and 2016, it said.

Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Hansraj Ahir said the highest number of communal incidents occurred in Uttar Pradesh, where 44 people were killed and 542 people were injured in 195 incidents. Karnataka followed next with 100 communal incidents, in which nine people were killed and 229 were injured, while 12 people were killed and 175 were injured in 91 riots reported from Rajasthan.

The number of communal incidents have been gradually increasing in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan, while they have gone down in Karnataka, Gujarat and Maharashtra since 2015, the Hindustan Times quoted the minister as saying.