Conviction rate has improved after studying previous judgments: Police

Every week, court constables of 20 police stations across Navi Mumbai arrive at the commissioner’s office to meet with the joint commissioner of police Rajkumar

Every week, court constables of 20 police stations across Navi Mumbai arrive at the commissioner’s office to meet with the joint commissioner of police Rajkumar Vhatkar.

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For the next hour, they update him about each case on trial and what happened in the confines of the courtroom to ensure the cases are on the right track.

The weekly meetings were started after recording a poor conviction rate in the city which lingered at only 22.03% as of 2018. To improve the rate of conviction, the police started studying the previous judgments which resulted in 80 acquittals in 2018 out of 111 cases that went on trial.

Senior officers then formed a team to analyse the findings of the judgment to look for improvement.

“We studied previous judgments and saw if medical tests were conducted properly and other elements to build stronger cases. After understanding why there were fewer convictions, we worked on building watertight cases,” said Sanjay Kumar, commissioner, Navi Mumbai police.

The court constables also double as liaising personnel to ensure those served with court summons arrive on time and also see to it that witnesses do not go hostile.

Officers said they have largely focused on improving conviction rate in sexual assault cases involving minors. In rape trials under Protection of Children from Sexual offences Act, 14 persons were convicted out of 36 cases on trial last year while in 2018, only eight were convicted out of 30. Molestation and kidnapping cases of minors also saw an increased conviction rate.