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Pune trial pendency 4th highest in nation
As per the NCRB report, in 2019, the courts in Pune sent 1,172 cases to trial; however, a total of 12,420 cases are pending trial from the previous years
Pune city has a pendency of 96.4%, and a conviction rate of 12.9%, in cases related to crime against women for the year 2019, according to data released by the National Crime Records Bureau of India (NCRB).
The publication, titled ‘Crime in India, 2019’, compares data from all states and union territories along with data from 19 metropolitan cities.
The definition of metropolitan, as per NCRB, is a city that has a population in excess of 10 lakh. However, only metropolitan cities which have a population of at least 20 lakh have been considered in the study.
In 2019, the courts in Pune sent 1,172 cases to trial. A total of 12,420 cases are pending trial from the previous years.
Of all the cases which went to trial in 2019, 58 were convicted, 384 were acquitted and eight cases were discharged.
These are only among cases which reached the legal end of investigation.
There are 2,432 cases, including 1,390 cases from 2019, and 1,042 cases from previous years, which are awaiting investigation by the police.
While cases keep mounting in the annals of the judiciary in the city, the addition to the burden has lessened under this category in the past three years, according to the data.
The annual number of cases registered in Pune has, however, come down compared to 2017. From 2,032 in 2017, and 1,481 in 2018, the city police registered 1,390 cases in 2019.
On a national level, NCRB report points to an increase in crimes against women in the 19 cities it surveyed in the year 2019, as compared to 2018.
“A total of 45,485 cases of crime against women were registered during 2019, showing an increase of 7.8% over 2018 (42,180 cases),” reads a part of the summary of the report.
Discussing reasons for cases getting stuck in court, a senior police inspector of the Pimpri-Chinchwad police, requesting anonymity, narrated an incident of a minor’s rape at a labour camp.
“The girl woke up in the middle of the night and was walking towards the bathroom when this man pulled her into his room and raped her. During the assault she raised an alarm and the neighbours and her parents came and rescued her, but he had already done the deed by then. The parents settled the matter when the boy agreed to give money and marry her. When that promise fell flat three days later, they came to the police. When the case was registered, he agreed to marry her. Now the complainant and her parents do not wish to pursue the case. How do we make such a case stand in court? This is not the only incident of its kind.”
“Firstly, awareness of people about registration of these cases - there is a stark increase as these complaints are taken up on a fast track basis. Judicial persons have not increased proportionately. Secondly, this has simply added to the pendency that was already high. The usual issues of availability of witnesses and complainants for procedures like identification parade are also majorly at play. For example, the labourer women who come here for work, they register cases and then are forced to change location as per their work. It is difficult to trace them. After all, no court wants to keep pendency on purpose but n number of reasons are at play,” said Advocate Leena Pathak who practices in Pune district court and is a public prosecutor.
