West Bengal’s chargesheet rate third highest in country: NCRB data

The rate of filing chargesheets against the total cognisable crimes in 2022 was 90.6%. The data claimed that the rate of cognisable crimes in 2022 stood at 240.7% ( per lakh population) in the state.

While Kerala clocked a chargesheeting rate of 96% with a total of 2,35,858 cognisable offences, Puducherry recorded a 91.3% chargesheeting rate against 3,237 cognisable crimes. However, experts feel that a high chargesheet rate doesn’t imply a higher rate of conviction.

Speaking to The Indian Express on Tuesday, Senior Special Public Prosecutor of the West Bengal Government Soumyajit Raha said a chargesheet means that through investigation a prima facie case has been established against the accused.

“Charges are framed if the materials in the chargesheet create such a circumstance that there is a possibility that the accused might have committed the offence. However, while convicting the person, the court must infer that the accused has committed the offence. So, a high number of chargesheets with fewer convictions doesn’t serve the object of the criminal justice system.”

During 2022, a total of 56,59,787 IPC cases were under investigation across India. These cases included 20,41,140 pending from the previous year and 57,268 re-opened ones. India’s chargesheeting rate in 2022 was 71.3% as the police disposed of 36,60,786 cases and filed chargesheets in 26,11,526 cases.

A total of 32,28,322 persons were arrested under 35,61,379 cases across the country in 2022. While a total of 43,67,588 persons were charge-sheeted, 10,55,181 were convicted, 9,81,194 were acquitted and 1,52,787 were discharged.

In 2022, 22,63,567 cases of Special and Local Law (SLL) crimes were registered across the country leading to 21,61,911 arrests.