Editor, Goemkarponn
AERIAL VIEW
The rate of cognizable crimes was 172.8, with a charge-sheeting rate of 75.9%.
Crimes ranged from kidnapping, cheating, rape, forgery, to overstaying and drug-related offenses.
The conviction rate in criminal cases for 2022 was 25.7%, with 365 cases resulting in convictions, 744 in acquittals, and a pendency percentage of 90.3, lowest in the country.
Crimes against women showed a rise, with 268 IPC offenses reported in 2022. Sexual crimes included 73 rape cases, 90 cases of outraging modesty, 30 cases of insult to modesty, and 60 cases of kidnapping and abduction. The overall crimes against women increased from 219 in 2020 to 273 in 2022.
SURAJ NANDREKAR
Editor, Goemkarponn
On Friday, Dabolim woke up to a shocking development that six houses were burgled and cash and jewelry worth Rs 7 lakh was stolen.
This has raised eyebrows as to how the anti-social elements, the thieves have a field day even when the Goa Police claims of 24×7 patrolling across the State.
We know for sure that Goa Police ranks up somewhere when we talk of crime detection rate but that does not deter the anti-social elements, infact the crime seems to be increasing.
Goa witnessed a fluctuation in IPC cases over the past three years, with an unexpected surge recorded in 2022, according to a report by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). In 2020, the state registered 3,393 cases, which declined to 2,099 in 2021, only to see a subsequent increase to 2,711 in 2022.
The rate of cognizable crimes was 172.8, with a charge-sheeting rate of 75.9%.
Crimes ranged from kidnapping, cheating, rape, forgery, to overstaying and drug-related offenses.
The conviction rate in criminal cases for 2022 was 25.7%, with 365 cases resulting in convictions, 744 in acquittals, and a pendency percentage of 90.3, lowest in the country.
Crimes against women showed a rise, with 268 IPC offenses reported in 2022. Sexual crimes included 73 rape cases, 90 cases of outraging modesty, 30 cases of insult to modesty, and 60 cases of kidnapping and abduction. The overall crimes against women increased from 219 in 2020 to 273 in 2022.
Chief minister Pramod Sawant recently said in the assembly is 85 per cent which is amongst the highest in the country.
He also claimed that crimes in Goa have decreased by 28.8% and that cases of crimes against women have also dropped.
Now while the crime detection rate is high, why has that not discourage anti-social elements?
Places like Vasco, Dabolim, Mapusa, Thivim, Margao etc, which are closer to the railway stations seems to be more vulnerable to thefts and robberies as the thieves immediately leave state after committing the crime by trains.
But what of bigger crimes like the rapes and murders even as most of these cases are cracked by the police within hours.
This simply because of the low conviction rate, which is amongst lowest in the country at 25 per cent.
Public Prosecutors attribute the State’s low conviction to lack of indepth and scientific investigation. In addition to this, the pendency of cases waiting for trial is well above 90 per cent.
A break-up of the nature of cases and the statistics reveals a disturbing trend as far as pendency and conviction are concerned. The conviction rate in crimes against women in the State is 21 per cent below the national average of 26.6 per cent. However, the pendency of such cases is 95.3 per cent.
With regards to crimes against children, the conviction rate of cases in Goa is 13.8 per cent, which is worrisome as it is 19.8 per cent below national average. The pendency of cases has peaked to 96.1 per cent.
