Sunday, 13 Oct, 2024
By: Yash Gupte
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Recently, the Central Vigilance Commission which is the apex vigilance institution, free of control from any executive authority, monitoring all vigilance activity under the Central Government published a report which sheds light on the conviction rate of the CBI.
CBI raids The raid conducted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) at the Delhi’s deputy CM Manish Sisodia’s residence is the talk of the town since last week. Delhi's Deputy Chief Minister, who also handles the Excise department, was raided by the CBI on 19th August over allegations of corruption in the liquor policy. All the allegations against him had been denied by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government. According to sources, during the 14-hour raid, agency personnel seized classified documents about the new excise policy from a public servant's residence.
The location of the seizure has not yet been revealed. No cash recovery has been made so far. The CBI had alleged in its FIR that a liquor trader gave one crore rupees to a company run by an associate of Mr. Sisodia. He was the first person on the list of the FIR's 15 listed individuals. Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, VK Saxena had recommended a CBI probe last month after a report from the Delhi Chief Secretary alleging irregularities in Delhi's new liquor policy. Under the policy launched in November, liquor shop licenses were handed over to private players. In addition to Manish Sisodia, former excise commissioner Arava Gopi Krishna, former deputy commissioner Anand Tiwari and Assistant commissioner Pankaj Bhatnagar are also named in the FIR. It was alleged that irregularities were committed including modifications in the Excise Policy and undue favors were extended to the license holders including waiver or reduction in license fee. Manish Sisodia had alleged that the CBI was being misused by the central government for political gains.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), functioning under Dept. of Personnel, Ministry of Personnel, Pension & Public Grievances, Government of India, is the premier investigating police agency in India. It is also the nodal police agency in India, which coordinates investigation on behalf of Interpol Member countries. Recently, the Central Vigilance Commission which is the apex vigilance institution, free of control from any executive authority, monitoring all vigilance activity under the Central Government published a report which sheds light on the conviction rate of the CBI. The CBI registered 680 regular cases and 67 preliminary enquiries last year, while it had registered 589 regular cases and 87 preliminary enquiries in 2020.
The chart below shows the conviction rate of CBI over the years.
Source: Central Vigilance Commission
The conviction rate of CBI witnessed a massive fall in the year 2015 as the agency’s conviction rate fell down from 69% in 2014 to 65% in 2015. Post 2015, CBI’s conviction rate witnessed a consistent rise till 2020. The year 2020 saw the highest conviction rate by the CBI. The conviction rate recorded in that year was 69.8% which was highest in last ten years but 2021 tells a different story as the conviction rate of CBI declined to 67.5% which is the lowest in last four years. In September 2021, the Supreme Court had ruled that the CBI was required to make sure that prosecution was carried out in addition to filing a case and conducting an investigation. It had rejected the CBI's argument that the success percentage of a lawsuit shouldn't be taken into account when evaluating its effectiveness in a country with an adversarial legal system like India. The low conviction rate signals that the irregularities in the investigation agency and the Indian judicial system too. Therefore, it is necessary for an investigating agency like CBI to maintain and increase its conviction rate in the majority of the cases.
