With jump of 8%, Nagpur Police records 23% Conviction rate

With jump of eight percent, the Nagpur Police has recorded 23% conviction rate in Indian Penal Code (IPC) cases which is the indication of improvement in quality investigation and argument of cases by prosecution. But Nagpur’s conviction rate is still behind state’s conviction rate which is -- 35.23 % in year 2016.

Dr. K Venkatesham, IPS

State records 35.23 % conviction rate 

Conviction rate is number of cases per hundred in which court has held the accused guilty and awarded punishment. Maharashtra’s conviction rate has been a dismal single-digit before 2012, but the then Director General Police (DGP) Sanjeev Dayal has taken many improvement right from coordination meetings between Investigation officers and prosecurtion to conducting qualityu investigation. These efforts now bearing fruits.

convicted accused in eight cases out of total decided 34 cases. Conviction rate in attempt to murder cases is increasing over the years. In year 2014, conviction rate in attempt to murder cases was 10 per cent and it was rose to 14 in year 2015. In kidnapping cases, Nagpur achieves only 11 per cent conviction rate, but this is not very bad scenario for the cops as only Zero per cent conviction was recorded in year 2015. In other IPC cases, the cops had registered 17 per cent conviction rate in year 2015 and it jumped to 27 per cent in year 2016. Out of total 2971 other IPC cases decided in the court, the judges have convicted accused in 803 cases. Last year conviction rate in other IPC cases was 17 per cent and 18 per cent in year 2014. 

Of a total 3,807 cases decided between January and December 2016, accused were convicted in 883 cases. In the year 2014, conviction rate for the city was only 14 per cent, which rose to 15 per cent in 2015. In the year 2010, conviction rate for the city was only 5 per cent, which declined to 4 per cent in 2011. In 2012, it was rose to 14 per cent.

According to statistics, the city police have recorded increase in conviction rate in murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping and other IPC cases. The court have convicted accused in 18 cases out of total decided 51 cases in year 2016. Conviction rate in murder cases was 27 per cent in year 2014 and 23 per cent in year 2015. In attempt to murder cases, the court have

Still, there exist areas of concern. Conviction rate in cases of burglary, thefts and molestation cases decreased in year 2016 and conviction rate in dacoity cases is zero since last three years. In robbery cases, the conviction rate is just 6 per cent which was 6 per cent in year 2015 and 7 per cent in year 2014.

In burglary cases, the conviction rate recorded slip of 7 per cent and reached to 7 per cent as compare to 13 per cent of year 2015. In other thefts, the conviction rate decreased by 2 per cent and settled at 4 per cent. In year 2015, conviction rate was 6 per cent and 7 per cent was in year 2014. 

A senior police official said that improvement in overall conviction rate is a result of sounder investigations and better co-ordination between public prosecutors and investigators. The cops have arranged many co-ordination meetings of prosecution and police officers. In some cases, conviction got affected as witnesses turned hostile.  It may be mentioned that the city police have appointed law officers last year to prepare better chargesheets.  

Maharashtra have recorded 35.23 per cent conviction rate in IPC cases and 43.68 per cent in State Local Laws (SLL) cases in year 2016. It means, total conviction rate of Maharashtra is 39.19 per cent which 33.24 per cent last year. In year 2015, conviction rate of Maharashtra was 32.99 per cent in IPC cases and 36.90 in SLL cases.