Not even a single question was asked by Members of Legislative Assembly (MLA) on the burning issue of terrorism in the Winter 2014 and Budget 2015 session, states a study done by Praja.
Not even a single question was asked by Members of Legislative Assembly (MLA) on the burning issue of terrorism in the Winter 2014 and Budget 2015 session, states a study done by Praja. Another fact put forth to improve conviction rate is a dire need of filling up the vacancy of police sub inspectors (PSI) and assistant police inspectors (API) in the Mumbai police, who are the backbone of investigations in crime cases.
The MLAs have raised questions related to certain murder, rape, corruption, wrong action by police, police and establishment.
Another 59 questions have been asked on “other crime-related” issues but zero questions have been asked on house break-ins which have seen a rise, terrorism, shortage of manpower, crime against children, accidents and rioting.
While most crime issues were raised by MLA Amin Patel with 25 questions, four MLAs — Bharati Lavekar, Ramesh Latke, Sunil Raut and Seval Tamil — did not raise even a single question on crime issues. Managing trustee Nitai Mehta said, “Our elected representatives are disengaged with this reality.”
There is a huge gap in the sanctioned and vacant strength of officers in this rank, which poses a major impediment for proper investigation of cases, ultimately affecting the conviction rate. Out of the sanctioned strength of 1,047 posts for API, about 141 posts are vacant i.e. 13 per cent vacancy and out of 3,252 posts for PSI about 924 are vacant i.e. 28 cent vacancy.
Milind Mhaske, project director for Praja Foundation, said,
“There is a dire need to improve the capability and quality of investigation. The sanctioned strength in the police department needs to be increased, but presently there is a huge gap in the present sanctioned strength itself.”
