Qualitative improvement of investigation process need of the hour: Rajnath Singh

He said as per NCRB, conviction rate of crimes is incredibly low, that's why investigation is crucial

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday called for a qualitative improvement in the standard of investigation to resolve challenges in dealing with both traditional and modern crimes.

"Investigative agencies are facing many challenges in the investigation of traditional and modern crimes. This conference should be adjudged as a forum to resolve the challenges and discuss ways to overcome them."

Expressing the hope that the conference would be fruitful and bring about a qualitative improvement in investigation, especially for economic and organized crimes and related legal norms," Singh said.

"Crime is an act committed by persons with distorted mind in adverse conditions. Whatever the circumstances under which a crime is committed, it is never acceptable in any civilized society. The two dimensions of controlling crime are prevention and detection. Prevention is the best remedy since crime is nipped in the initial stage. Though after the crime is committed, investigation builds in the foundation on which detection is based," he added.

The Home Minister said that as per the National Crime Records Bureau, the conviction rate of the crimes is incredibly low, that's why quality investigation is crucial in delivering justice to the victims and penalization of the suspect.

"Our focus should be to improve investigation at the station house level as most of the cases are handled at this level. Apart from the standard of investigation, we tend to conjointly emphasize on giving proper courtesy to the victims and witnesses.

He said that accessibility of victims and witnesses should be taken into consideration before lining them up for an investigation. He also said that the victims must be informed regarding the progress of investigation.

Rajnath Singh said the government has taken various steps to improve the standard of investigation. He made a mention of the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network Systems (CCTNS) project for complete automation of the working of the police and extended it to court, jail, prosecution and forensic laboratories.

On the issue of women safety, he said the government is concerned about crimes against women and the safety of women.

He said to investigate crime against women, dedicated investigative Units on Crime Against Women (IUCAW) are being established in 564 districts of India. He said that in these units, one- third of the investigators are women and funds are offered by the Central and State governments, on 50-50 partnership basis. He said that Centre will spend Rs 324 crores over the next two years on these units.