High pendency of criminal cases in Maharashtra

The total number of criminal cases pending in various courts in the state pertain to cheating and a criminal breach of trust, notes the report titled "Crimes in Maharashtra 2011," released here recently.

The wide gap between disposal of cases by police -by filing charge sheet--- and courts (2:1) needs to be bridged, said the report, adding that the courts had more than 77.5 per cent of IPC cases pending for trial.

"At the end of 2011, 13,41,836 cases ( 91.5 per cent) of the total 14,66.075 cases were pending for disposal before various criminal courts in the state which indicates that the number of cases pending is mounting," the report said.

It also indicated that the efficiency of criminal courts had not matched with the galloping quantum of crime in the state.

The statistics released in the 14th annual report of the state CID also indicated that an improved road infrastructure coupled with an increased police vigilance on the highways and setting up of more trauma centres, had resulted in decreasing the number of accidental deaths in 2011.

There were 13,680 fatalities and 45,374 injuries in accidents in 2011 as against 14,603 deaths and 48,353 persons who suffered injuries in road mishaps in 2010, it stated.

A substantial increase in the number of traffic aid posts on the state highways in as many as 12 districts of Maharashtra namely, Pune, Satara, Sangli, Solapur, Kolhapur, Ahmednagar, Aurangabad, Jalna, Beed, Parbhani, Osmanabad and Nanded is also seen as a contributory factor to the lesser number of accidental deaths in addition to public awareness campaigns against drunken driving.