Criminal justice in Punjab

Lahore, Sunday, November 2, 1924

THE report on the administration of criminal justice in Punjab during 1923 shows that while there was a perceptible fall in the number of crimes during the year, the methods by which criminals were brought to justice were by no means efficient. The total number of offences reported was 1,78,562 as compared with 1,91,383 in the previous year. Of these, the number of “true cases” was 1,16,369 or 65 per cent of the total number, the same last year. Again, of the 2,67,638 persons brought to trial, over 66 per cent were acquitted or discharged and only 25.2 per cent were convicted. Even if we take only police cases, the percentage of convictions is 52. These facts are undoubtedly very unsatisfactory and they lead to the inference that either a great proportion of criminals escaped punishment owing to some fault in the police or judicial machinery or that a large number of innocent persons were needlessly arrested or prosecuted for offences they did not commit. In either case, the failure of so many prosecutions must have a very bad effect on the general public, because while it fails to have a deterrent effect on criminal classes who have greater chances of escape from the consequences of their actions, it gives little security to the law-abiding peaceful classes in regard to their life and property. The matter deserves the serious attention of the government, which demands from taxpayers an ever-increasing sum of money in the name of “law and order” — for which the latter do not get an adequate return.