HYDERABAD: Over the past year, the conviction rate in various cases of crime in the city has been a meagre 36 percent. But this is a progress over the abysmal figures of previous years when it stood at 32 and 24 percent in 2015 and 2014 respectively.
Speaking about the conviction rate and the performance of the Hyderabad police last year, commissioner M Mahendar Reddy has said while the number of cases reported has come down, several witnesses have turned hostile in court as they are repeatedly threatened by offenders.
Meanwhile, the number of rape cases reported has gone up. However, a good number of victims approached the police for justice. In terms of grave crime cases, it has reduced by at least 31 percent this year.
“The grave crime rate came down significantly by 31 per cent by registering during the 2016 year is 550 cases as compared to 796 grave cases in 2015. Property offences have also come down of 16 percent. All property cases reported during 2016 is 3,638 as against 4,340 reported cases of the previous year 2015,” the police commissioner said.
Police invoked PD Act against notorious offenders who threatened witnesses not to appear before courts to give evidence.
“Invoking PD Act against habitual criminals helped the city police improve the conviction rate to 36 per cent. The rate was 32 percent in 2015 and 24 per cent in 2014. In all, 283 criminals were detained under PD Act this year.”
Mahendar Reddy said 23 percent were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in the current year. The number was 21 last year. The current year also saw 99 convictions and award of jail term exceeding three years.