Shoddy probe, prosecution impeding conviction

Sankar Sen

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Ex-Director, National Police Academy

The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) recently released its report, Crime in India, after a gap of two years. The report shows that the national conviction rate in India for offences registered under various sections of the Indian Penal Code was around 46 per cent and there is a gradual decline in conviction figures over the years as well. This is a worrying trend and has far-reaching implications. In 1952, when the collation of crime data from all over the country commenced, the conviction rate was about 64 per cent. However, a downward trend started in 1970 and it became less than 40 per cent in 2012, according to an analytical study of decreasing rate of convictions in India.

Diminishing figures of conviction means that criminals are not getting punished for the crimes committed by them. This is an important crimogenic phenomenon that encourages as well as emboldens the criminals to venture into more serious and horrendous offences. Criminologists are unanimous that one of the most crucial deterrents against crime is the certainty of punishment. It is not the severity but certainty of punishment which frightens and deters the criminals from committing crimes. When the criminals feel that the gains of crime far outweigh the risks of crime, they feel encouraged to embark on more serious crimes. This distressing phenomenon is evolving throughout the country and the perpetrators of crime are having a field day.

In sharp contrast to many other developed countries in the world, the prevailing rate of conviction in India is very poor. In Japan, the conviction rate is around 99 per cent, including guilty plea cases. But it may be mentioned that in Japan, confessions before the police are admissible as evidence. In England and the Wales, the conviction rate in the crown courts in 2017-18 was 80 per cent.

There are many causative factors behind the steady decline in conviction figures. Poor and shoddy investigation and prosecution of cases are the two important reasons behind this depressing and distressing development. The quality of investigation of criminal cases has nosedived over the years; sometimes either by design or default. There are often glaring gaps in investigation, leading to the acquittal of the accused.

While serving as a senior functionary in the state CID of the Orissa (now Odisha) police, I had to pull up, on many occasions, senior officers for poor and lackadaisical supervision of cases. Often, they fail to guide the field officers to investigate in the right direction or highlight remediable gaps in the investigation either due to their incompetence or apathy. Moreover, as there are no staff earmarked exclusively for investigation of cases, officers in the police stations, being busy with law and order duties, pay step-motherly attention to crime investigation.

Often, sensational and heinous crimes are handed over to the state CID and in many cases, the CID officers do a competent job in nailing the perpetrators of crimes. But the state CID can investigate only a limited number of cases. In a majority of the cases, the responsibility devolves on the police station staff, who are often ill-equipped to investigate properly such serious crimes. Moreover, many cases are not prosecuted competently and vigorously in courts of law, resulting in acquittals.

The separation of the prosecution wing from the investigation wing, following the CrPC amendment in 1973, was an ill-considered step. It broke down the coordination between the police and the prosecuting wing, which is essential for successful conviction in criminal cases. A study done by the state CID in Odisha showed how conviction figures started plummeting after the separation of investigation and prosecution staff, due to lack of coordination between the two. Again, the appointment of prosecutors, particularly district prosecutors, on political considerations has weakened the quality of prosecution. Supervision over prosecutors exercised by the Directorate of Prosecution is also poor. As a result, often, these two vital segments of the criminal justice machinery act not in coordination but at cross-purposes.

Moreover, inordinate delays in disposal of cases gradually dishearten the victims and enable the accused persons to gain over them by threats or blandishments. The apex court has laid down that expeditious trial is a part of the right to life guaranteed by Article 21 of the Constitution. However, the near-total absence of any witness protection programme makes the witnesses vulnerable to threats and pressures exerted by the rich and powerful.

Another fallout of the pendency of trials is that the prisons in India are full of undertrials who far outnumber the convicts. The undertrials languishing in prisons come in contact with hardened criminals, and in turn, get coarsened and turn into full-blown criminals.

The decline in the conviction of criminals is not only a very disquieting phenomenon but also has an unsettling effect on the crime scene. The NCRB data show that 30,62,579 cases were registered in 2017 as against 29,75,711 cases in 2016 and 29,49,400 cases in 2015. Thus, the figures have, by and large, remained constant, despite the crimogenic factors like the increase in population, economic distress, social tension, etc. This is because the recorded crime figures do not reveal the true incidence of crimes due to non-registration and minimisation of cases by the police.

However, even the suppressed crime figures show that in 2017, there was some upswing in the incidence of crime because of the registration of an increased number of crimes against women. Crimes against women increased by six per cent compared to 2016 figures and nine per cent compared to 2015. This happened because increasingly, women, overcoming stigma or shame, are coming forward to report crimes against them. NGOs and activists are also playing a causative role to ensure that such crimes do not go unregistered by the police.

Today, many advanced countries of the world are witnessing a decline in crimes, particularly heinous crimes. But crime control in India remains an uphill task because of the enormous delay in the disposal of cases in courts, resulting in the poor rate of conviction.

The situation can only improve if there is better coordination and improved functioning of the different components of the criminal justice system. The ongoing situation does not look encouraging. It seems we have to live with rising crimes and unfrightened criminals for a longer time.