Nitish Kumar expresses concern over dip in conviction rate for crimes

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday expressed concern over the decline in conviction rate for crimes and asked officials to expedite the process of speedy trial to achieve the desired results as in the past.

On his assuming power of Bihar for the first time in 2005, Kumar had successfully used the process of speedy trial to expedite conviction rate for crimes as an effective measure to control law and order in the state.

He was emphasizing on the same successful weapon to control crimes.

"The concerted and coordinated steps that increased conviction rate since 2006 has now weakened", he said expressing concern while addressing a day-long seminar attended by High Court Judges, top civil and police officials among others here.

The seminar on "Effective Investigation, Speedy Trial and Timely Justice" was organised by Home department in association with Bihar Judicial Academy.

Patna High Court judge Justice K K Mandal, Justice Dinesh Kumar Singh, Advocate General Lalit Kishore, Chief Secretary Anjani Kumar Singh, Director General of Police P K Thakur besides several District Judges, District Magistrates and Superintendent of Police and Public Prosecutors attended the function.

Kumar assured the gathering that the government was ready to make any investment to achieve the goal of speedy trial and conviction, be it the use of technology such as video conferencing or creation of posts.

Kumar suggested that Bihar Judicial Academy should hold the training programme for Superintendents of Police but it should also come out with short-term training course of one or two or three days for Sub-Inspectors engaged in investigation work.

He asked Public Prosecutors to argue their cases in an effective manner.

"We are people's representatives and we do get reports from the ground that they (PPs) don't put up cases effectively. I can not fathom the reason behind it but you must do your duty and let the court decide the matter," the CM said.

Kumar also asked DMs to monitor PPs at the district level as whether or not they are effectively and timely putting up cases.

A two-day workshop on "Speedy criminal justice" was organised in October 2006 which was attended by District Judges, DMs, SPs, PPs, Kumar said adding that it proved to be an "effective workshop" that witnessed an increase in conviction rate then.

After that workshop, even the routine trials in regular courts were sped up. In 2006, the total number of convicts were 6839 followed by 9853 convictions in 2007, 12007 in 2008, 13146 in 2009 and 14311 in 2010, he said reeling out data.

"But, after that, it started witnessing the decline in conviction rate and has further declined to 5508 convictions in 2016," Kumar said.