New litigation policy in works; focus likely to be on mafias & Pocso cases

LUCKNOW The Uttar Pradesh government is working on a new litigation policy that aims at time-bound completion of trials in cases filed under Pocso sections and those involving sex-related crimes against women. It will also focus on bringing absconding and jailed gangsters to justice and the cases pending in MP/MLA courts against lawmakers. People in the know of things say that the new policy would be notified very soon, replacing the present one which was brought by the Samajwadi Party (SP) government in 2012.

“The draft of the Uttar Pradesh Litigation Policy, 2023, was discussed in a meeting chaired by the chief secretary Durga Shankar. The meeting was attended by senior officials of the law and the prosecution departments here on July 6,” a senior official revealed.

The proposed policy, as discussed in the high-level meeting, lays down guidelines for using video conferences as a tool to hear the cases against the absconding mafias who are lodged in jails outside Uttar Pradesh and get them punished speedily by effective pleading against them from the prosecution.

It also aims at the completion of court trials of cases under the Protection of Children Against Sexual Offences (Pocso) as well as cases involving sexual crimes against women within one month of filing of the chargesheet in the court to get the maximum number of accused convicted by producing carefully-drafted chargesheets in courts.

The new policy is also expected to lay focus on a speedy trial of cases pending against lawmakers in the special MP/MLA courts in the state. Currently, 60 MLAs and MPs are facing trial in special courts.

As per a report sourced from the state government, as many as 71,193 Pocso cases were pending in various courts in the state at the beginning of 2013 and of them, 3,622 cases (5.08% involving 4,630 accused) were disposed of by courts till June 15.

However, the accused were punished only in 1,336 of the 3,622 cases disposed of till mid-June while in 2,283 cases, the accused (3016) were let off by courts, the conviction rate being merely 36.88%. Six of the accused in as many Pocso were awarded the death penalty and 168 accused in 135 such cases were awarded life imprisonment.

Similarly, a total of 1,31,161 cases pertaining to sexual crimes against women were pending in courts in January this year. Only 2,382 (5.087%) of those cases involving 4,119 accused could be disposed of in six months till June 15. The conviction was done only in 1,060 of the 2,382 such cases disposed of by courts, and in 1,207 cases, the accused (2,544) were freed by courts. Only in 44% of the cases, the accused (1,575) were convicted.

Top districts in pending Pocso cases

District No of pending POSCO cases

Lucknow 2,450

Agra 2,317

Gorakhpur 2,015

Ghaziabad 1,945

Aligarh 1,876

Top districts in cases of sexual crimes against women

District No of pending cases

Meerut 1,3413

Kanpur Dehat 5,455

Lucknow 4,499

Prayagraj 4,491

Moradabad 4,393