It should surprise nobody if conviction in cases of graft and other irregularities is minimal in most of the States in our country. We have a democratic dispensation and an independent judiciary. We have the rule of law as we have a comprehensive constitution to guide all the three organs of the State. The judiciary is bound by the constitution and not by the policy of the State. As long as we have faith in our judicial system and as long as the judiciary upholds its constitutional and moral duty and responsibility, we have no reason to challenge the verdicts of courts of law knowing full well that the law does not debar us from appealing to higher institutions of judicial justice if we fail to receive justice at lower levels. The ultimate objective of the constitution and the law of the land is to do justice to the citizens of India and not to usurp their rights provided by the State through institutionalized agencies.
Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) is an independent and non-official organization that has made elaborate survey of the data showing the convictions and the punishments given in cases of graft and corruption in different states of the Indian Union from 2001 to 2015. The figures provided by the CHRI may be startling. For example, it says that among every 100 corruption cases registered by investigation agencies only about 19 ended in conviction of the accused. About J&K, the analysis shows that the State saw acquittal of 90 per cent of accused. However, in states like Goa, Manipur and Tripura the acquittals were 100 per cent. As against this, Kerala has 62 per cent ending in conviction during the years 2001-15. Among the total people charged for corruption by various investigative agencies, only 31 per cent received punishment from the courts during last 15 years while 69 per cent (about 29,591) were acquitted by the courts, says the report.
By and large, these figures show that a majority of alleged graft and corruption cases are acquitted by the courts of law and less than one third of them are convicted in accordance with the law of the land. This is a strange situation and needs to be debated by the legal fraternity. We said in the beginning that we have elaborate and dependable judicial system in this country and we respect it. We confirm that our judicial system is above board. The question is that why do we have such a low rate of conviction and punishment in the cases of corruption when we are told that corruption is rampant in the country and the State.
The most probable reason, why there is high percentage of acquittal in most of the cases is lack or inadequacy of evidence. The investigating agency is unable to provide convincing evidence that would lead to the conviction and punishment in a particular case of graft. Whether the investigating agency knowingly leaves a gap in the process of investigation or that it is really unable to cull out convincing evidence from all available sources is a moot point that legal fraternity needs to evaluate.
It is also said that the corpus of laws governing prosecution of cases of corruption, embezzlement, and mismanagement etc. are inadequate and need to be upgraded. It is also said that certain reforms in legal structure are also needed and some unnecessary or cumbersome practices in running the conviction process should be addressed. Maybe there is a grain of truth in this assertion. Any demand for reforms in existing judicial set up should come from the legal authorities and then alone will the Government take up the matter with concerned authorities. As of today, the law enforcing agencies have not felt any dire need of introducing a reformed law in handling the cases of graft. Of course, what can be said without an iota of doubt is that the moral force behind human activity needs to be charged and given teeth.
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