Acquittal rate on the rise

36 set free by district court this year so far

Panchkula, August 9
The Panchkula police has failed miserably in solving major cases of crime, but the worrying factor for the force is the rising rate of acquittal of criminals from the Panchkula court.
This year, a total of 36 criminals have been acquitted from the Panchkula district court so far, which has raised a question mark on the efficiency of law-enforcement agencies.
Cases like those of the kidnapping of Jiya and Arnav, the murder of a car showroom guard, the kidnapping and murder of realtor Deepak Rai Sagar and the murder of an Australia-based NRI remain unsolved.
Cases in which the accused have been acquitted include those of murder, planning dacoity, rape and abetment to suicide. The acquittals have resulted either from the failure of the prosecution to furnish substantial evidence in court or from witnesses turning hostile during trial.
In a recent case of murder of a woman at Kalka, the court acquitted four members of the family as there was not any strong evidences against them.
The police maintained that her husband had killed her with the help of his family, but failed to substantiate the criminal conspiracy theory during trial in court.
A priest was acquitted of charges of rape inside the ‘dharamshala’ at the Mata Mansa Devi temple. The complainant had changed her statement on three occasions. The prosecution had failed to produce any medical evidence against the accused, which ultimately led to the acquittal.
In May, the court acquitted four persons accused of planning dacoity. They were acquitted as there were contradictions in the prosecution story. There was no independent witness and all prosecution witnesses were police personnel.
On April 4, the Panchkula court acquitted Darshan Lal of Raipur Rani in connection with a case of murder registered the previous year as 13 witnesses turned hostile.
Panchkula SP Maneesh Chaudhary said he had now directed investigating officers to update him about the status of cases being tried in various courts on a fortnightly basis.
He added that they were now holding meetings with the prosecution department regularly as well, which would help improve the conviction rate.
On the issue of rising acquittal rate, the Haryana DGP held a meeting with SPs of all districts in Haryana. They discussed ways to improve the prosecution ratio. Officials attached with courts were recently given training so that the acquittal rate could be minimised.