Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh has grabbed the top spot for the highest number of disposal and entry of cases through the e-Prosecution portal for the second consecutive year in 2022, according to official data. Uttar Pradesh is India's most populous state.
Using the portal, officials keep a track on speedy disposal of cases by ensuring that witnesses are informed about their day of appearance in court, government advocates and others concerned are provided relevant information in advance, to help prosecution prepare a strong case to ensure conviction.
Uttar Pradesh has emerged as the state with leading conviction rate in cases of crime against women, officials said.
The portal, managed by the Centre under its Digital India Mission, ensures communication between the police department and the prosecution directorate under the Inter-operable Criminal Justice System (ICJS).
This enables transfer of data among courts, police, jails and forensic science laboratories which is aimed at providing timely justice to the victims and their families.
According to figures available till February, Uttar Pradesh has 1,11,86,030 cases entered on the portal, followed by Madhya Pradesh with 29,31,335 cases, Bihar 11,89,288 cases, Gujarat 5,16,310 and Chhattisgarh 4,71,265 cases.
In 2021, the conviction rate in Uttar Pradesh in cases related to crime against women was 59.1 per cent against the national average of 26.5 per cent. The state has also improved consistently in ensuring conviction. In cases of rape, conviction was achieved in 671 cases in 2022 as compared to 177 in 2020. Likewise, 2,313 cases under the POCSO Act saw conviction as compared to 535 in 2020.
In cases of dowry death, kidnapping and sexual harassment, the conviction rate has gone up by 220 per cent, 475 per cent and 2,075 per cent, respectively, in the last two years.
The efforts have also materialised into speedy trials. Last year, 34 POCSO cases saw the accused being convicted within a month of filing of the charge sheet. In 2021, the number was just seven and the year before that, it was just five.
"The e-Prosecution portal comes into play once police file a charge sheet in a case. Once the details of the case are uploaded, sending summons to production of witnesses is monitored through the platform," said Additional Director General of Police (Prosecution) Ashutosh Pandey. The online monitoring of cases not only helps in better coordination with all related parties, including police, courts and advocates, but also helps in tracking which stage the case is in.
"We have tried to bring together every party related to prosecution to ensure that justice is delivered in time. The e-Prosecution portal plays a key role in ensuring this," the officer added.
Considering the varied nature of crime and the sheer volume of cases lodged across the state, the prosecution department has put special focus on cases related to crime against women, the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act along with cases lodged against dreaded criminals, Pandey said.
"We have tried to change the attitude of government prosecutors, police and judicial officers so that they could work in tandem for a speedy trial," said Pandey.
Senior advocate Rohit Kant said the conviction rates in crime against women and children in Uttar Pradesh have improved remarkably."The duration of the trial in these cases has also reduced which signals a change in the mindset of people involved in the prosecution," he said.
Even in cases related to mafia, the conviction rate has gone up. Between March and December 2022, a total of 16 mafia were convicted in 23 cases, the data showed.
"Many of these cases were almost 10 to 20 years old and yet the trial had not started because of various delay tactics adopted by the mafia. In some of these cases, they were even acquitted by lower courts. Yet we ensured conviction in the High Court," Pandey said.
To bring about the change, government prosecutors were given laptops and trained to upload case details on the portal, the officer said.
The department also sought help from the office of the Director General of Police, Principal Secretary (Law), Principal Secretary (Home) and Registrar of Allahabad High Court to communicate with officials of their departments at the district level across the state.
"We also introduced state and district-level monthly ranking for our prosecutors to motivate them," informed Pandey.
The officer even decided to send the trophy presented by the Union Home ministry to Uttar Pradesh for claiming the top spot in the number of disposals and entry of cases through the e-Prosecution portal to every district in 2021 as part of a team-building exercise.
"The trophy for 2022 that we got recently will also be sent to the districts to instil a sense of pride in our prosecutors and police officials for their hard work in ensuring conviction in cases," said the officer. —PTI