High rate of pendency continues in matters of economic offences and cyber crime
Second highest pendency percentage in disposal of vigilance, ACB and Lokayukta cases
the goan I network
PANAJI
Goa has one of the worst records in the country in disposal of vigilance, Anti Corruption Bureau and Lokayukta cases with the second highest pendency percentage in this category of cases.
According to the data available in "Crime in India - 2016", the annual report published by the National Crime Records Bureau of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, the pendency of police investigation into corruption cases is as high as 98.4 per cent as against the national average of 66 per cent. The disposal of corruption cases in court is also slow with the pendency rate pegged at 85.7 per cent in 2016.
To put Goa's performance into perspective, it is preceded by Meghalaya, which has recorded 100 per cent pendency rate. However, as against the mere seven cases registered in Meghalaya, 11 fresh cases were reported in Goa in addition to the 52 cases already pending investigation from the previous years.
Though the number of corruption cases registered in Goa has fallen by almost half from 22 in 2014 to 11 in 2016, the police had a total of 63 cases on their hands for investigation. Of these, only one was chargesheeted while six fresh arrests were affected.
The court disposal of corruption cases booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act as well as the India Penal Code is also quite low. In 2016, while six cases were pending trial from previous years, one fresh case was sent to the court for trial. Conviction was pronounced in one case. As a result, the pendency rate of corruption cases before courts remains as high as 85.7 per cent.
Meanwhile, the NCRB data has also revealed that the overall pendency rate of cases being investigated by the police stood at 55.2 per cent in 2016 as against the national average of 30.2 per cent.
In 2016, Goa Police registered 2,692 fresh offences in addition to the 2,803 which were pending investigation from the previous years. In these 5,495 cases, chargesheet was filed in 1,582 cases while final reports were filed in 870 cases. Of the 870 cases which were filed for closure by the police, 708 cases were closed despite being true owing to insufficient evidence. Only 11 cases were closed as the allegations were found to be false.
The pendency of cases before courts in 2016 is as high as 88.8 per cent with the disposal rate being a dismal 22.4 per cent. In 2016, of the 12,251 cases which were up for trials, only 1,375 were disposed of by the courts. Of these 290 cases resulted in convictions.
Goa has among the highest pendency rates in the country in matters of crimes against children despite the fact that the number of cases itself has fallen from 330 in 2014 to 230 in 2016. The pendency rate was 48.2 per cent. Of the 436 cases being investigated by the police in 2016, 226 were disposed off by the police and 130 were chargesheeted
‘High rate of pendency not good for justice'
the goan I network
PANAJI
The annual report of National Crime Records Bureau of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, "Crime in India - 2016", has revealed that the high rate of pendency continues to pose as a hurdle in securing justice in matters of economic offences and cyber crime in Goa.
The pendency rate in case of police investigation of cyber crime cases in 2016 was 64.2 per cent owing to the addition of 31 fresh cases to the 50 cases pending from previous years.
Police have filed chargesheet in only nine of these 81 cases while 29 others were disposed of citing various reasons.
On the other hand, the pendency of cyber crime cases before court is as high as 95.7 per cent with nine more cases being sent to trial in 2016 in addition to the 14 trial already pending from previous years. However, it was observed that the number of cyber crime cases has fallen from 62 in 2014 to 31 in 2016.
In cases involving economic offences, which constitute 10 per cent of all cognizable offences registered in the state, the rate of chargesheet was 45.2 per cent with chargesheets being filed in 133 cases. However, the pendency rate continued to hover over the 70 per cent mark owing to the registration of 199 fresh economic offences in 2016 taking the total number of cases pending police investigation to 983.
