Hyderabad: Hundreds of undertrials are stuck in jail as their cases have not been cleared for years. The Hyderabad police has 11,000 pending cases and the Cyberabad cops have about 7,800.
Although police in both commissionerates are holding “pending case melas” to clear the backlog, the number only increases every month. Prisons deputy superintendent (administration) K. Arjun Rao said cheating and property offences dating back to several years are still pending with the police.
“During counselling under the Mahapari-varthan scheme of the prisons’ department, most undertrials said they were innocent. Due to the delay in the investigations, they are not able to prove their innocence,” he said.
He said prisons DG V.K. Singh had written to all SPs and police commissioners on the matter. “We have sent them lists of prisoners who claim to be innocent,” he said.
The lists name 116 undertrials in Cybera-bad, 36 in Hyderabad, 11 in Warangal, 13 in Me-dak, three each in Adila-bad and Ranga Reddy, two in Mahbubnagar, one each in Karimnagar, and Nalgonda districts, he said.
Prisons warder for welfare Y. Malla Reddy said that if the police clear pending cases by filing chargesheets in courts, the undertrials may be shifted to Central jails if convicted. “Most hardcore criminals are taking advantage of the
pendency,” he said.
Hyderabad police commissioner M. Mahender Reddy had earlier told the media that there were 21,229 under-investigation cases till 2014. The number was progressively reduced and stood at 9,800 in December last year, he said.
Additional commissioner of police Swati Lakra told this newspaper that DCPs were reviewing the pending cases every month. “We are encouraging officers who are rapidly clearing cases with rewards,” she said.
As per the CCRB, there were 11,000 pending cases by the end of January 2016. Most cases are related to property offences and cheating. In Cyberabad, the pendency is rapidly rising. It shot up from 214 in 2012 to 331 in 2013, 972 in 2014 and 4,699 last year. Cyberabad CCRB records say the number stands at 7,800 now.
