Srinagar: Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has disclosed that in Jammu and Kashmir conviction rate in crime against women cases is just 3.4 percent, while the court pendency percentage is 95.8 percent.
A written reply by Minister of State in MHA, Ajay Kumar Mishra in Parliament revealed that Jammu and Kashmir recorded a conviction rate of just 3.4 percent in crime against women cases. “The conviction rate of J&K is much below in comparison with the national conviction rate which is 29.8 percent in crime against women cases and among all Union Territories, the conviction rate is 31.7 percent which is also higher than J&K,” it stated.
Official figures further point out that the conviction rate in crime against women cases in J&K has witnessed a slight dip in the past few years. The Government of India has provided details of conviction rate and court pendency percentage in crime against women cases from 2016 to 2020.
In 2016, the conviction rate was 4.1 percent, which went up to 5.1 percent in 2017, 5.2 percent in 2018, 3.4 in 2019, and 3.4 in 2020. While the court pendency percentage of crime against women cases in J&K in 2020 was 95.8 percent.
The conviction rate for crimes against women improved to 29.8 percent in 2020 from 18.9 percent in 2016 across India but the court pendency percentage climbed to 95.5 percent in 2020 from 89.8 percent in 2019, MHA informed Rajya Sabha.
Replying to a question, MoS Home Affairs cited data from the NCRB report on ‘Crime in India’, to state that West Bengal recorded the lowest conviction rate in the country in 2020 in respect of crimes against women, at 2 percent, while Nagaland had the best conviction rate of 81 percent.
The all-India conviction rate in cases relating to crimes against women rose from 23.2 percent in 2019 to 29.8 percent in 2020.
The highest court pendency percentage for cases relating to crimes against women was in Arunachal Pradesh (99.9 percent), followed by Manipur (98.9 percent). Among the bigger states, Bihar accounted for the highest court pendency at 99.4 percent. Ladakh had the lowest pendency at 59.2 percent.
“MHA has been issuing advisories from time to time to States/UTs to deal with crimes against women. A Centrally Sponsored Scheme for setting up 1023 Fast Track Special Courts (FTSCs) including 389 exclusive POCSO courts was launched by the central government in the year 2019-20 to provide speedy justice to the victims of rape and the POCSO Act. As on December 31, 2021, 27 States/UTs have operationalized 700 FTSCs including 383 exclusive POCSO Courts,” read the reply.