Conviction rate of city ACB low at 8 per cent

The conviction rate of Mumbai Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has seen a sharp decline from 31 per cent last year to a meager 8 per cent this year; an all-time low, at least since 2009. Additional commissioner, Mumbai ACB, Kishore Jadhav, admitted that the issue is “alarming” and “they are taking adequate measures” to improve their conviction rate next year.

Even the overall conviction rate of Maharashtra ACB has fallen by six per cent from 29 per cent last year to 23 per cent this year. While the Maharashtra ACB has taken a slew of measures to improve its conviction rate, it seems the results will begin to show only in the years to come.

The number of courts trying ACB cases this year has almost doubled, but that too hasn’t helped the ACB. In Mumbai, of the 62 cases that completed trials, the accused in 57 cases were acquitted while only in five cases, they were convicted. Last year, there were fewer courts trying ACB cases. However, out of around 39 cases that completed trials, the accused in 27 were acquitted and were convicted in 12.

This year, about 32 bribery cases out of 57 in Mumbai were tried in a magistrate’s court, with the accused in 29 out of these acquitted. An ACB officer said that most of the cases tried in 2015 are old and long pending, which is a major reason for dip in conviction rate. By contrast, ACB Thane and ACB Aurangabad topped the conviction rate chart with 31 per cent each. It must be noted though that the conviction rate of ACB Thane fell by one per cent and that of ACB Aurangabad fell by seven per cent as compared to last year.

Additional commissioner, ACB Aurangabad, D.S. Swami said, “On the instructions of P.N. Dixit (former DG ACB) we analysed all court judgments and removed the lacunae. We apprised courts about the efforts that we had put in. We took witnesses into confidence and ensured chief examination and cross-examination took place in a single day.”

“The chargesheets were filed elaborately with emphasis on evidence collected. We ensured the defence did not get any chance to manipulate witnesses. Some cases resulted in acquittals for taking wrong prosecution sanction. We ensured that wrong prosecution sanction was not taken in any cases,” Mr Swami said.