Legal advisors to help police improve conviction rate

BHUBANESWAR: In a bid to improve conviction rate in courts, Odisha Police has started appointing legal advisors in every district to provide proper assistance to the SPs and investigating officers.The legal advisors would be appointed in 27 police districts of the State. Retired district judges, additional district judges, public prosecutors and additional public prosecutors would be taken as the advisors on contractual basis.

“The purpose of appointing a legal advisor in every SP office is to help in improving investigation and look after the legal aspects of each case and guide in collecting strong evidence to make a case watertight,” said a senior police officer. The legal advisors can help in getting better results during the trial of the cases. They will also review the acquittal judgements to find out the loopholes in the investigation, he added.

In a review meeting held recently through video conference, DGP Abhay directed the senior officers to complete the recruitment process of legal advisors at the earliest. He also asked the officers to maintain a coordination with the judiciary and the prosecution to improve the conviction rate in the State.According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), the conviction rate was just 21.5 per cent in 2019 while it was an abysmal 5.7 per cent in 2018.

During the meeting, the DGP has directed the officers to launch a special drive from March 7 to 14 to execute the pending non-bailable warrants (NBWs). “About 973 warrants have been executed till March 9. The warrants have been executed in good numbers in Ganjam, Nayagarh, Cuttack, Balasore and Kendrapara districts,” said the police officer.