AGARTALA, July 2 (TWIN): Dogged by the sharp criticism, the police have initiated various measures to increase the conviction rate in the state. While the conviction rate at the national level stands at 38-40 percent, the CBI handled cases have 60 percent conviction rate and the figure here is horrible- only 18 percent. To improve the conviction rate, the police have already taken some steps to address the problems.“We have stated collecting court verdicts on different cases for examining what went wrong leading to acquittal of rapists or killers. If we find somehow the accused person or persons has/have got acquitted from serious charges even after sufficient evidences against him/ them, we will appeal in the higher court for review the judgment/ judgments”, said a senior police officer on condition of anonymity.

In some cases, lapses in the investigation process came to light.

 “We are on the move to take remedial measures to remove the lapses on the part of Investigating Officer”, he said adding that judicial mechanism especially government advocates were requested to cooperate with the cops to ensure conviction to the accused persons. Recalling his bitter experience, he said after conducting investigation the IO had submitted charge sheet against the accused person in a gang rape case.

In course of the trial, the victim turned hostile and did not appear before the trial court leading to acquittal of the accused person. Later, it came to light that the matter was resolved at the village level. “If a compoundable offence is solved at the village level, how can you expect the conviction rate to scale up? The entire investigation of the case went in vain.

Now, we are planning not submit charge sheet against the accused persons if cops smell foul play in the incident or case. Because the conviction rate is being prepared base on the number of charge-sheeted cases”, he explained. Here it may be recalled that Chief Justice Deepak Gupta had hammered the police authority for poor conviction rate in the state and extended full support to the state police to enhance the conviction rate.