At 2%, J&K sees poor conviction rate in crime against children
The Jammu and Kashmir have been moving at snail pace when it comes to act against crime related to children, as just 2 percent cases reached to logical conclusion while the executive agencies even fail to produce charge-sheets for more than 50 percent of the registered cases.
The statement laid in the Lok Sabha indicates that Jammu and Kashmir has registered 1921 cases under crime against children during 2019-2021.
Of these 1921, 993 cases were chargesheeted and just 39 cases reached to logical conclusion and got convicted, which is just 2 percent of the total tally. Moreover, nearly 50 percent of total cases registered under various sections are yet to be chargesheeted since the last three years.
As per date, in 2019, total 470 cases regarding crime against children were registered in Jammu and Kashmir, 223 cases were chargesheeted. 329 persons arrested and 310 were charge-sheeted. 12 cases and 17 persons convicted during this period.
In 2020, JK UT saw a rise in crime against children and total registered cases reached to 606 of which 313 charge-sheets were produced against 444 persons while 466 were arrested during the course of investigation. 17 cases and 22 persons were awarded convection during this period.
In 2021, total 845 cases were registered in JK UT with 457 were charge-sheeted involving 622 persons of which 601 were charge-sheeted. 10 cases and 10 people were convicted during this period. Moreover the reply further stated that in 2011 the cases registered in JK were just 25 while chargesheeted remained 15.
The executive wing of police seems to be a more miserable performer in investigating the cases related to Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act, 2012 in which just three cases convicted out of more than 400 under the act.
As per the statistics, in 2019, 109 cases under POCSO were registered in JKUT involving 97 girl victims, 79 cases were chargesheeted and 101 persons were arrested. The charge-sheets against 98 were produced. However not a single case reacted to the conclusion yet.
In 2020, 200 cases of POSCO registered across UT involving 197 girl victims. 153 cases chargesheeted with 235 persons arrested and 230 persons charged. The two and four persons convicted during this period
In 2021, cases registered remained 294 involving 279 girl victims, 251 cases were chargesheeted and 343 persons attested during this period. 333 persons were chargesheeted but just one got convicted.
Moreover, the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) informed that total cases in the entire country during 2019, 2020 and 2021 were 47324, 47221 and 53874, respectively.
The Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act, 2012 enacted by Govt. of India provides safeguards for children against sexual abuse.
The Act defines a child as any person below the age of 18 years.
The Department of Justice is implementing a Centrally Sponsored Scheme for setting up of 1023 Fast Track Special Courts (FTSC) for early disposal of pending cases of sexual offence of rape and under POCSO Act since October 2019.
As per information provided by the Department of Justice a total of 733 FTSCs including 413 exclusive POCSO Courts are functional in the 28 States/UTs of the country.
