PANAJI
Goa’s law and order machinery remained weighed down by an overwhelming backlog in 2024, with over 92 per cent of Indian Penal Code/Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (IPC/BNS) cases still pending before courts at the end of the year, while the conviction rate remained a dismal 17.1 per cent.
The latest “Court Disposal of IPC/BNS Crime Cases (State/UT-wise) -- 2024” data released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) paints a grim picture with 15,670 criminal cases still awaiting trial at the end of 2024 out of a total 17,014 cases pending before courts during the year.
The figures revealed that while 1,606 fresh cases were sent for trial during the year, courts managed to dispose of only 1,344 cases. Of these, 203 cases ended in conviction, while 902 accused were acquitted and 79 were discharged.
The data further showed that trials were completed in 1,184 cases during the year, but acquittals vastly outnumbered convictions. The pendency percentage stood at an alarming 92.1 per cent.
The report also showed that courts disposed of 160 cases without trial, including 116 cases that were compounded or compromised, eight disposed of through plea bargaining, four quashed and four withdrawn from prosecution.
At the policing level, Goa recorded 3,286 IPC/BNS cases for investigation during 2024, including 1,165 cases pending from the previous year and 2,121 new cases registered during the year.
Police filed charge sheets in 1,606 cases, including 593 old cases and 1,013 cases registered during 2024.
However, the police also closed a significant number of cases without prosecution. As many as 412 cases were categorised as “true but insufficient evidence or untraced or no clue”, while 127 cases were closed as a mistake of fact, civil dispute or mistake of law. Twenty-five cases abated during investigation.
In Special and Local Laws (SLL) offences, police handled 1,509 cases during the year and disposed of 1,119 cases. A total of 1,061 cases were chargesheeted, resulting in a high chargesheeting rate of 94.8 per cent.
Despite this, 390 SLL cases remained pending investigation at the end of the year, with pendency pegged at 25.8 per cent.
