19,000 cases pending in Udupi district
Judge inaugurates legal awareness workshop for police personnel
''Police play an important role in the maintenance of security and law and order system. However, they should imbibe themselves with the intricacies involved in the process of registering the cases followed by the trials in court,'' opined District and Sessions Judge Narendra Kumar Gunaki.
He was speaking after inaugurating the legal awareness programme for police personnel jointly organised by District Legal Services Authority, Udupi; Bar Association, Udupi and Udupi District Police here at the office of Superintendent of Police on Wednesday.
Stating that the police should not entertain the mockery of the system by the mistakes done by them consciously or unconsciously, he said the evidences are crucial and the police investigation officer should not take any risk of committing mistakes while executing his responsibilities.
“The early trials will help to sort out the case justifying the labor put forth by the police officials,” he said and added that till the final hearing, the police official should not disassociate himself from public prosecutor.
Stating that the total pending cases since last one year in the district is about 19,000, he said that out of the same, about 10,000 are criminal cases while 9,000 are civil cases. Between the month of August and October, as many as 4,507 cases have been solved through Lok Adalats.
About Rs 6.27 crore has been given away as compensation and as many as 31 mediators have been used in the process.
Speaking on the occasion, SP Dr Y S Ravikumar said that the importance of the legal literacy camps cannot be overemphasized and the contemporary issues in investigation should be taken care of. The low conviction rates, evidences at the stage of convictions and trails are some of the factors to be concentrated upon.
Sometimes it so happens that the officers are not collecting the evidences according to Indian Evidence Act that are legally and logically admissible, he said.
Cyber crimes
Referring to the increase in the number of cyber crimes, he said that there is a need for circumstantial evidences and opinions from the experts. It is difficult to corner the perpetuator of the crime in cyber crime cases. Additional knowledge over modern tools like brain mapping, narco analysis used in investigation is required for quality investigation, he added.
Loopholes
Delivering the talk on “Loopholes during the process of investigation and the reasons for the release of the accused,” veteran advocate Mattar Ratnakar Hegde said the defense lawyer can make use of every lapse on the part of evidences that are collected.
If the mandatory provisions are not completed, the benefits of these mistakes are taken by the defense lawyer. The first earliest possible version is important.
Eye witnesses are major issue in the first information report that is filed. The delay in filing the FIR can be condoled in some exceptional cases, however every minute in the delay should be proved. Defense lawyer will have it easier, if the FIR is weak.
Delay in recording the material statements will have an impact.
Stating that the dying statements are as effective as any other evidence in which the doctors need to certify it separately, he said investigation is an art with challenge. “The convictions can be done with earliest possible evidences,” he said and added that at present, in India, the rate of acquittal is 60 per cent as against the rate of convictions, that is, 40 per cent.
