This feat achieved by the Jharkhand district courts might make the prosecutors and the courts in other states jealous.
The special project, introduced by Acting Chief Justice D N Patel of the Jharkhand High Court in December last year, to put 500 criminal cases on speedy trial has resulted into conviction rate of 63 per cent, the highest in the country.
Out of 356 cases, which were disposed of out of 500, the accused were convicted in 223. The rest 154 cases could not be concluded as the accused were absconding in most of these cases. The all-India conviction rate stood last year at 21.2 per cent. 72 judicial officers were specially assigned for this job.
The special drive happened to be one of the pet projects of Justice Patel, who completed one year as acting Chief Justice on June 10. Emboldened, he has begun an exercise to handover another 1000 cases for speedy trial, vowing to take the conviction rate to at least 80 per cent, just nearing to a normal conviction rate in US courts.
The drive to clear 1,000 sensitive cases, related to Arms Act, SC/ST Act, rape, POCSO Act, explosive substance Act, NDPS Act, corruption, defalcation of government property and money, extortion, loot and such cases where the action is to be taken under the Crime Control Act for speedy trial, would begin from July. The government has been told to select such cases whose disposal is important for maintaining law and order in the state.
“It could not have been possible without close coordination with police and public prosecutors, who were stationed in the court premises itself equipped with all the necessary gadgets to summon the accused and produce the evidences in the court in time,” Justice Patel pointed out.
“If the special drive can result into such a high conviction rate at the micro level, I am sure it would be successful at the macro level too, provided we make concerted efforts in which the court and prosecutors have a major role,” he maintained.
“Also, the police should not file bogus chargesheet against the accused which they can’t prove finally. Their failure to prove the charges after filing a chargesheet does an irreparable damage to a person,” he pointed out. “Suppose a person is charged with theft and he is finally acquitted. But the stigma of facing the charge of theft remains with him and his family whole life. We have several such instances in the society well depicted by Bollywood Movies like Deewar in which the actor gets a tattoo of “Mera Baap chor hai…,” Justice Patel added.
“An accused is presumed innocent and he cannot be held guilty on the basis of suspicion however strong it may be. So, the police are required to present substantial evidence that proves beyond a reasonable doubt the defendant’s guilt,” he pointed out.
But then, the district courts have achieved other feats too. The 24 district courts were given the target in July last year of clearing 35,000 five years plus old cases till May 31 this year, and they have locked 37,520. They have been given the target of 45,000 for this fiscal. They have unburdened lower judiciary of 8569 cases filed under Negotiable Instrument Act against the target of 7000, and 1000 cases of Juvenile Justice Act.
“And, the subordinate court judges have achieved the target putting in additional hours, apart from their routine work,” he points out proudly. In all, the lower courts had cleared 1,34,138 criminal cases in 2017. But there is still a backlog of 2.69 lakh criminal cases in Jharkhand.
A long tenure of one year as ACJ has given Justice Patel an opportunity to draft the policy and implement it passionately both in the court as well as in the field of legal services through Jharkhand State legal Services Authority (JHAlSA).
The digitization and scanning of all the old cases and records has been complete in the high court. “We are going to use artificial intelligence in the court process very soon,” the ACJ pointed out.
A computer savvy judge, Justice Patel said that everything regarding all these initiatives are available on our website where one can see all the fine details about such cases.
Justice Patel, known for his missionary zeal in taking free legal services at the door step to the people on the margin, particularly Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Scheduled Castes (SCs) in Jharkhand, he has received accolades at the national level for effectively implementing Victim Compensation Scheme and legal empowerment schemes. He also appreciated the generosity of Chief Minister Raghubar Das in making the scheme effective by sanctioning adequate funds.
The State Government has sanctioned Rs 15 crore under the Scheme during the current fiscal.
JHAlSA_Gumla_1 : Chief Minister Raghubar Das hands over a symbolic key to a PMAY beneficiary during the legal Services cum Empowerment camp at Gumla district organised by JHAlSA. Acting Chief Justice Jharkhand High Court Justice DN Patel and other Judges also seen .