GUWAHATI: The rate of conviction in cases in which Assam Police filed charge-sheet before the court in the last five years has been very low as it lies in a range of 5.5 per cent and 12 per cent, the state Assembly was informed on Monday.
The state, on the other hand, has reported a high number of cases of crime against women during the same period between 2016 to 2020, as per the information laid by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in the House.
In reply to a question by Congress MLA Pradip Sarkar, Sarma said that the rate of conviction in cases where charge sheet was filed in courts was 5.5 per cent in 2020 as per provisional data.
It was 6.7 per cent in 2019 and 5.9 per cent in 2018, while the figures were in double digits in the preceding two years 12 per cent in 2017 and 11.7 per cent in 2016.
The figures for the four years between 2016 and 19 are final.
The reply was laid in the House in the name of the chief minister in his capacity as the home minister though he was not present on Monday.
Sarma further informed the House that as per National Crime Records Bureau, Assam ranked sixth in the country in terms of the number of crimes against women from 2016 to 2019.
The data for 2020 has not been published yet, he added.
Altogether 65,845 cases of violence against women and minor girls have been registered in the state from 2016 till July 31, 2021, with charge sheets filed in 38,412 cases so far.
Moreover, 16 government officials, including an IPS officer, have cases of alleged molestation of women registered against them in the state since 2016, Sarma said.
He added that the state government has been taking various measures for controlling crime against women, including setting up of Women Help Desk' in 200 police stations in the state, forming a Crime Against Women Cell' under the CID and activating Anti Human Trafficking Unit and Special Juvenile Police Unit in all districts.