Bulk of ‘dacoity plan’ cases fall flat in Haryana courts

Tribune: Chandigarh: Sunday, 19 July 2020.

Information collected under the RTI Act from the office of Director of Prosecution in 18 districts showed zero conviction rate in 14 districts Jhajjar, Charkhi Dadri, Palwal, Rewari, Mahendragarh, Sirsa, Gurugram, Karnal, Ambala, Kurukshetra, Fatehabad, Kaithal, Bhiwani and Sonepat from 2016 to 2019 (till November). In Hisar, convictions were reported in four of 16 cases, while there was just one conviction in nine cases in Rohtak. In Yamunanagar, just two of the five cases ended in conviction. The rate in Panchkula was 14 per cent in 2019, but it was nil between 2016 and 2018.

While acquitting six persons of “making preparation to commit dacoity” under Sections 399 and 402 of the Indian Penal Code and Arms Act, a trial court in Jind observed it was “next to impossible” for the accused to have been speaking so loudly in the open (canal bridge) that the police overheard their plan.

Raising a question mark over the recovery of weapons from the accused, the court in its March 6 judgment wondered why the accused “armed with a country-made pistol, iron rods, etc” didn’t inflict any injury on policemen.

Similarly, a Yamunanagar court acquitted four persons on February 27, describing the police claim of overhearing their “plans to commit dacoity” as “highly improbable”. Such plans are made in secret, commented the court.

These are only a fraction of a growing number of similar cases in Haryana where the charges have failed to hold up in court. The National Crime Records Bureau report suggests while Haryana has been registering cases under the two sections, there is no such practice in Himachal Pradesh, J&K and some northeastern states.

According to the State Crime Record Bureau (SCRB) data, the Haryana Police registered 89 cases and arrested 411 persons in 2016. The next year, while the number of cases fell to 40, the arrests were substantial at 200.

In 2018, the cases further dropped to 29, but 118 arrests were made, while in 2019 (till October), 13 cases were registered and 76 persons arrested. So, while the number of cases has been gradually falling, the number of suspects facing trial remains substantial.