Maharashtra's conviction rate declines from 34.5% to 9.4% in 19 years!
By Kartik Lokhande
For the past few years, poor conviction rate in Maharashtra
has attracted attention and criticism of the people. Yet, the rate of
conviction has not touched double digit for past five years. In fact, to hide
this failure in securing in serious offences, the Government has done a smart
jugglery of quoting ‘conviction rate in all crimes’ in internal reports instead
of quoting conviction rate in ‘IPC crimes’.
If one takes a look at the National Crime Records Bureau
(NCRB) reports since 1994, that is, a span of 19 years, it becomes clear that
the conviction rate in IPC crimes has nosedived from 34.5 per cent in 1994 to
mere 9.4 per cent in 2012. Actually, the data shows that the conviction rate
dipped steadily, irrespective of which party was in power. According to sources
in Police Department, this was because of a variety of reasons including
witnesses turning hostile, poor investigation, loose presentation of
chargesheet, inadequate evidence, etc. In fact, in various cases, courts have
passed strictures over poor investigation or against the Investigating
Officers.
Additional Chief Secretary (Home)
Dr Amitabh Rajan could not be contacted, despite efforts made over the past four weeks, for his comment on the issue. He
was either busy in meetings or did not pick up the phone. A senior officer in
Home Department, on the condition of anonymity, said that poor conviction due
to loose chargesheets and poor investigation resulting in inadequate evidence
were linked to exertion of political influence in many cases across the State. “In
the end, it is the investigating machinery or the police officers concerned who
face the rap of the courts,” said the official.
Interestingly, to improve performance relating to conviction
rate in crimes registered under Indian Penal Code (IPC), the State Government
had instituted a special study to find out reasons and analyzing the data
available. The committee submitted its report recently. Based on the
recommendations, the Government recently cleared appointment of 299 Assistant
Government Pleaders in the State over three years. Besides, through a
communication dating back to December 2012, State Criminal Investigation
Department (CID) had asked all Commissioners of Police, Superintendents of Police
and other senior police officers in the State to file monthly reports of
conviction rate in IPC crimes. The officers were asked to file monthly reports
by fifth date of every month. However, as an officer pointed out, slowly many
officers have started delaying submission of reports.
Meanwhile, the Government also has started doing a jugglery.
In its internal reports, it has started quoting conviction rate in ‘all crimes’
instead of serious ‘IPC crimes’. According to one such report, the conviction
rate in all crimes has improved to 15.6 per cent. In January and February 2013,
the conviction rate was 10.1 per cent and 10.4 per cent respectively, as per
the monthly reports. However, sources in Home Department said that conviction
rate in IPC crimes has not reached double-digit figure yet.
Conviction rate in
IPC crimes since 1994
------------------------------------
Year Conviction
Rate
------------------------------------
1994 34.5%
1995 32.9%
1996 18.8%
1997 18.1%
1998 16.3%
1999 15.7%
2000 12.6%
2001 13.1%
2002 12.6%
2003 12.5%
2004 13.7%
2005 11.7%
2006 11.6%
2007 11.1%
2008 9.4%
2009 9.6%
2010 9.0%
2011 8.2%
2012 9.4%
------------------------------------
(Source: NCRB Reports)
Has the situation
changed really?
This is the only obvious question that comes to one’s mind
if one reads the observations recorded in NCRB’s first ‘Crime in India’ report
dating back to 1953. For the benefit of ‘The Hitavada’ readers, here are the
observations recorded under the title ‘Handicaps in Police Work’ in NCRB’s 1953
report:
“Police suffered from various handicaps in their fight
against criminals. The main handicap was insufficiency in numbers. Compared to
any other advanced country of the world, India has the lowest number of
Policemen per 1,00,000 of population.
“Large-scale recruitment during the last few years in all
the ranks of the Police has diluted the quality to a great extent and
consequently, there has been a fall in the standard of work. The standard of
new recruits in subordinate as well as in gazette ranks has not been of high
quality.
“The old fear, which the Police used to inspire amongst the
criminals, has largely been dissipated and surveillance over criminals has
become extremely difficult.
“Correspondingly, there has been no improvement in the methods
of investigation or in the application of science to this work. No facilities
exist in any of the rural police stations and even in most of the urban police
stations for scientific investigation. Very few States have got forensic
science laboratories, which can help the Police in the investigation of crime.
“Medico-legal examination leaves much to be desired and many
cases fail because of faulty or careless examination by the doctors.
“The delay in the disposal of cases in court has led to a
large number of acquittals, due to witnesses being won over or the memories of
witnesses becoming dim, and the release of a large number of professional
criminals on bail during the trial increased the difficulties of the Police.
“The rural police has ceased to exist as an effective force
though the whole criminal administration was based on the foundation of rural
police. Large amounts have been spent on armed police but no improvement has
been made in the lot of the rural police. With the disappearance of the rural
police as an effective force has also disappeared the control of the Police
Station over criminals and local knowledge.
“Co-operation from the public in the detection and the
investigation of crime is not forthcoming in the measure it does in the western
countries. This, of course, is the biggest handicap, which the Police in India
has to face.”
(Published in The Hitavada CityLine on July 17, 2013)
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