Of 18 lakh criminal cases pending in Maharashtra, 25% are from Mumbai

Maharashtrarsquos dismal conviction rate which stood at a mere 15 per cent last year and the fact that there are more than 18 lakh criminal cases pending in the 1291 district and lower courts across the state seem to have finally jolted the state home department into action Nearly 25 per cent or about 45 lakh of these cases are from Mumbai and the suburbsShocking Indians under trial exceed Dutch populationPic for representationOn May 12 the state issued a government resolution GR directing that the cases that are unlikely to stand in the courts because of various reasons like faulty chargesheets and the lack of evidence and documents be withdrawn The GR states that only the cases which can yield convictions will be tried so that the conviction rate gets a significant boost and the people involved do not have to suffer unnecessarily due to the pendency of casesPanels formedHighpowered committees have been formed at the district levels to review the cases that could be withdrawn Similar committees at the tehsil level will assist district panels in screening the pending cases The principal district and sessions judge will head the district panel which will comprise the district collector superintendent of policecommissioner of police assistant director of prosecution public prosecutor and government pleader as a member secretaryNeed for order The move is aimed at ensuring that the conviction rate gets a significant boost and the people involved do not have to suffer unnecessarily due to the pendency of casesSimilar committees will work at the tehsil headquarters under the seniormost judicial magistrate The panels have been given terms of references see box based on which they can review cases and recommend them for withdrawal to the home department which will then seek the law and judiciary departmentrsquos advice for the final action of withdrawal under the Criminal Procedure Code CrPC sections 258 power to stop proceedings in certain cases 321 withdrawal from prosecution and 1738 Stalling further investigationlsquoMuchneededrsquoA senior home department official told midday that the people involved suffer unnecessarily in view of pending cases and the statersquos conviction rate also takes a hit because of pendency According to him about onefourth of the 18 lakh pending cases are from Mumbai and its suburbsldquoThere are several reasons for the growing number of cases being filed in the courts Our analysis has showed that the investigation officers file chargesheets fearing a backlash from the stakeholders in the case or the public if they fail to do so even though they do not have enough evidence to prove the guilt of the accusedrdquo he said requesting anonymityThe official added that the pending cases also need to be reviewed because the Supreme Court and High Court have issued directives time and again about what constitutes valid evidenceExpertspeakSenior Advocate Shrihari Aney told midday that any new idea for clearing pendency was a good thing but feared that the utility of the panels would be limited ldquoCognisable matters offences cannot be whisked away like that The only way to deal with cognisable matters would be to amend relevant laws or make a special lawrdquoAney said that the review should not be rendered useless or appear superficial ldquoI remember a High Court judge telling a government pleader that the pendency of cases was the courtrsquos problem I wish this doesnrsquot turn out to be superficial because the government will be dealing with the same setup it has been dealing with all along mdash the courts lawyers and other machineryrdquoAdvocate Aseem Sarode doubted whether the panels would work in an efficient manner ldquoThe judicial administrative and police officials are already burdened with existing work The new assignment will increase their workload further and hence the government should have independent experts on the panelsrdquo he said Sarode said that the panels in case they donrsquot have independent experts should ensure that influential people donrsquot benefitldquoThey should work with a sense of responsibility and rationality I expect fairness from them as it involves discretionary powers which are usually questioned by the peoplerdquo he said Former IPS officer Y C Pawar welcomed the review of pending cases ldquoI have been demanding a similar thing for many years now Our judiciary is overburdened because of the cases that can be withdrawn easily The panels have a right mix of peoplerdquo he said adding that there was no need of independent experts on such panels15 Maharashtrarsquos conviction rate last year1291 The number of district and lower courts across the state45 lakh Approximate number of pending criminal cases in Mumbai and its suburbs