The conviction rate in crimes is low as compared to other States while the criminal cases are soaring in the State.
The government is setting up new courts every year for speedy trials, but the cases are still pending and convicts and accused are found to be acquitted in 90% cases.
According to State government final data report, as many as 8.59,581 lakh criminal cases are pending in the lower courts and 36,087 are pending in high court. Out of total pending cases, 15,468 criminal cases and 3.55,445 lakh cases are pending for 5 years. The government argued that 319 officials are required for the verdict of the pending cases.
A total of 90,184 criminal cases were filed in 2013, an increase of 7.4% against 2012. However, the conviction rate was only 5.9% in that year. Similarly, the percentage was disappointing in the year 2014 when 93,657 criminal cases were registered in the State.
According to the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) report 2014, the conviction rate was 10.3% in the cases filed under several sections of IPC.
Notably, the conviction rate is more than 40% in the national level. While the conviction rate is more than 80% in the States like Nagaland, Mizoram, Pondicherry, the percentage is higher than 70% in Uttarakhand. In the states like Andaman-Nicober, Chandigarh, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and Kerala, the conviction percentage in the criminal cases is between 50 and 70. But, the percentage is pretty low in Odisha.
The NCRB report says that around 28,913 criminal cases were heard in 2013 out of which the sentences were pronounced in 2983 cases and the accused were acquitted in 25,930 cases. While the courts acquitted the accused in 72% in murder cases, the criminals were set free in 84% in rape cases, 82% in women kidnapping, 90% in dacoity, 86% in irregularities of necessary products, 89% in dowry harassment, 97% in excise, 87% in dowry related murder cases.
Several accused are getting acquitted due to faulty systems many reasons encouraging youths to get involved in committing new crimes.
