West Bengal Has Second-Lowest Conviction Rate in Country For Cases of Crimes Against Women

New Delhi: Based on a data analysis by The Hindu, a stark picture of the justice system for women in West Bengal has emerged, revealing that the state has the country's second-lowest conviction rate for crimes against women despite consistently recording one of the highest caseloads.

An examination of National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data from 2017 to 2023 shows that only about one in five cases of crime against women ended in a conviction. The state’s conviction rate averaged just 5% over this period, dropping to 3.7% in 2023 and ranking it 35th out of 36 states and union territories.

This low rate of conviction contrasts sharply with the volume of incidents. West Bengal has reported more than 30,000 cases of crimes against women every year since 2018, consistently placing it among the top four states in the country.

The data analysis by the newspaper comes shortly after public outrage over an alleged gang-rape in Durgapur, which prompted controversial remarks from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. "In Bengal, we have zero tolerance for such crimes," she told the media, adding an appeal for young people "not to venture out at night." She later stated her comments had been "deliberately distorted."

The low conviction rate is mirrored by a dramatic rise in acquittals. In 2023, the number of acquittals in cases involving crimes against women surged to 19,005 – a significant jump from 7,996 the previous year and the highest figure of any state in India.

Simultaneously, the backlog of pending cases has grown substantially. By the end of 2023, West Bengal had 3.68 lakh pending cases, one of the largest backlogs in the country and a 56% increase from the 2.34 lakh cases pending in 2017.

Analysis of specific crime categories between 2018 and 2023 further highlights the state's challenges. West Bengal ranked first in the country for cases of acid attack and attempted acid attack for five of the last six years. It also recorded the third-highest number of cases under "cruelty by husband or his relatives" during this period, reported The Hindu.

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