Poor conviction rate of drug cases worries Judge

Poor conviction rate of drug cases worries Judge

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, July 13, 2014:  Karnataka High Court Judge N Kumar expressed disappointment and said  that it is time to introspect on the implementation of legislations on drug abuse, child sexual abuse and human trafficking, as to why the laws have not been effectively implemented and the offenders are let scot free.

 

 

Speaking after inaugurating a two-day workshop on “NDPS, POCSO, human trafficking and abolition of bonded labour system” organised by the Karnataka Judicial Academy for the representatives from judicial cadres and police departments at Zilla Panchayat hall on July 12. With increase in the number of crimes and fewer offenders convicted specially in drug abuse cases, the responsibility looms large on the police, public prosecutors and the judges to ensure that guilty are not spared without reasons. According to a survey conducted in 2007, the amount involved in international drug smuggling is 372 billion dollars. Even though a large number of cases are booked under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS), the conviction rate is less than one per cent.

“This poses a question whether all the bodies concerned have failed to discharge duties efficiently. While the police must investigate with no scope for loopholes, public prosecutors should apply their mind in argument and judges should ensure that offender is not acquitted unreasonably.”,   he stressed the need for creating awareness about the existing laws.

Karnataka High Court Judge Jawad Rahim said that due to an anxiety to conclude the investigation on the part of police, certain vital steps in the  investigation process was discarded which causes a loop hole. If viscera and blood samples in sexual assault cases are not preserved properly, the case can not stand before the court. Therefore, every law implementing agency should understand its responsibility and role better and should not allow the personal whims and fancies affect the process.

Concern over drug menace :  In his presidential address, Mangalore City Police Commissioner R Hitendra expressed concern over the drug menace in Mangalore and said that steps taken to curb it are not satisfactory. “Several missing cases of women have been booked in the city, but such cases are closed by assuming them to be love affair cases. A detailed investigation has not been done to find the whereabouts of missing women and to know if they are trapped in human trafficking and so on”, a serious approach on the part of those involved must be cultivated.