Sitting amid the blackened remains of his home, 32-year-old Nikesh Gawali carefully broke open a half-melted plastic box with a screwdriver. His hands shook slightly, not out of fear, but out of hope. “I’m trying to find my daughter Aarti’s gold earrings,” he said quietly, still focused on the box. “She’s just five. I got them made recently after months of labour work.” The plastic box, warped and blackened by heat, was one of the few things left from his two-room house on the outskirts of Dhamangaon village . All around him lay ash, broken tin sheets and charred wooden beams. The walls had cracked under the heat and the front room’s tin roof had caved in completely. What remained was a blackened debris all around - almost nothing to suggest a home once stood there. Nikesh earns his living as an agricultural labourer, like many in the village. Work is uncertain and depends on the season. Those earrings weren’t just jewellery - they were a small dream, a reward for his hard work,...
WITH a jump of 11 per cent, Nagpur Range Police have recorded 60.58 per cent conviction rate in Indian Penal Code (IPC) cases, an indication of improvement in quality of investigation and argument of cases by prosecution. Nagpur Rural police topped the chart in the range with whopping 77.09 per cent conviction rate with Wardha police (37.75 per cent) running behind Chandrapur (67.23 per cent) and Bhandara (39.48 per cent) districts.
Conviction rate is number of cases per hundred in which court has held the accused guilty and awarded punishment. Special Inspector General of Police (IGP), Nagpur Range, Mallikarjuna Prasanna informed ‘The Hitavada’ that conviction rate of the range was 20.17 per cent in 2015, 31.17 per cent in 2016, 46.66 per cent in 2017 and improved to 49.69 per cent in year 2018.
After taking over reins of Nagpur Range, IGP Prasanna focused on improvement in the conviction. He analysed the situation and ordered head-wise analysis of each and every case.
Superintendent of Police Rakesh Ola said that Nagpur Rural police had recorded 77.09 per cent conviction rate as against 47.19 per cent in year 2018. This jump of 29.9 per cent was achieved due to painstaking efforts of field staff.
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| Mallikarjuna Prasanna, IGP Nagpur Range |
“We took it as a challenge to achieve maximum conviction rate to create deterrence of law among the criminals,” Ola said. Almost 85 per cent cases were heard in the JMFC court and 15 per cent cases in the sessions court. “So, along with Sessions Court cases, the staff was ordered to focus on JMFC cases,” he said.
After finding reasons behind acquittal of accused in crime, special sessions of the Pairvai Officials and Investigation officers were conducted by senior rank police officials and Public Prosecutors. This helped a lot in securing conviction rate as the foolproof cases were presented in the court with proper evidence, he said.
Similarly, Sub-Divisional Police Officers (SDPOs) were instructed to visit police station once in a week with agenda of checking case papers and review of the court cases. This sent a message to lethargic police officers. They started filing chargsheets on the time, Ola said.
“Why should a police officer take a year to file chargesheet in a hurt case? If a case took three years in the court, eye-witnesses and even complainant go hostile. So, we have asked the officers to file chargesheets within stipulated time period to make sure conviction,” Ola said.
It must be mentioned that SP Ola himself had worked as JMFC before becoming IPS.
SP Wardha Dr. Baswaraj Teli said that Wardha district had recorded 37.15 per cent conviction rate with jump of 7.89 per cent. He assured crossing 50 per cent conviction rate next year. “Our year-long efforts are bearing fruits now as the district had recorded 39.05 per cent and 52.87 per cent conviction rate in November and December respectively,” he said.
“Statement of eye-witnesses and victims meant a lot as far as conviction of cases is concerned. So, Wardha police had started briefing eye-witnesses and victims before they record statement in the court. It was like memory refreshing exercise,” Dr. Teli said. “As they were giving proper statements in the court, it made impact required to convice the judge and put the accused behind bars,” he added.
“Pairavi Officers also play important in securing conviction. However, these posts remain negligent for years. So, we have deployed intelligent work force as Pairavi officers and they had started continuous follow up of every case coming to the court,” Dr. Teli said.
Bhandara police, which secured 39.48 per cent conviction rate, had formed a special conviction cell where they conducted critical analysis of court’s results and Investigation Officers were briefed accordingly.
Bhandara SP Arvind Salve claimed that the conviction cell had played major role in security conviction rate. “The cell is monitoring each and every thing in the court right from delivery of summons to briefing of witnesses and victims,” SP Salve said and added that he himself was taking review of the cell after every two weeks.
“If the cell notices that a necessary letter from forensic lab in a case was not delivered to the court, then the cell officers immediately swing into action and ask concerned police station in-charge in this regard,” said SP Salve.
“By connecting small dots, we are trying to make an impact of law on criminals,” he added.
A legal expert said that improvement in overall conviction rate is a result of sound investigations and better co-ordination between public prosecutors and investigators. The cops have arranged many co-ordination meetings of lawyers and police officers last year in the range.
Conviction rate was highest in state in October 19
In October 2019, Nagpur Range had recorded 60.91 per cent conviction rate in IPC cases as compared to state average 40.94 per cent. Gadchiroli Range was ranked second with 42.38 per cent conviction rate, Nashik stood at third with 36.99 per cent while Kolhapur range had secured 32.71 conviction rate for the same period.
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