HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court directed the State government to come up with a comprehensive plan for strengthening the Department of Public Prosecution to ensure an effective criminal justice delivery system. A division bench of the High Court told it to chalk out a budget for the same, fill the vacancies in a time-bound manner and provide them with the necessary infrastructure. It is, indeed, trite to state that the backbone of the criminal justice delivery system is public prosecutors, the bench noted while hearing a PIL recently. “Unless the prosecution wing is strengthened, the conviction rate will remain low. Moreover, if offenders are released on bail, it will create a law and order problem,” it observed.
The bench, comprising Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B Vijaysen Reddy, was hearing a PIL based on a letter written by the Registrar General with regard to prosecutions in Telangana, expressing concern regarding the recruitment, appointment, training and lack of facilities. “The entire trial depends on their availability, training and knowledge. Public prosecutors ensure that justice is delivered,” the letter read.
When the bench was informed that the government had failed to appoint sufficient number of prosecutors, it said the perusal of judgments that public prosecutors are not trained well. Even while arguing a bail petition, they do not submit the criminal history of the alleged offender nor do they bring relevant laws to the court’s notice. The bench directed Advocate General BS Prasad to submit a report and posted the matter to October 15 for hearing.