Number of women officials booked for taking bribes rises in Pune

28/12/2017

PUNE: Graft cases registered by the Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in Pune division against woman police officials involved in bribery this year have almost seen a rise of 100 % compared to 2016. Also, for the year 2016 and 2017, the number of cases has remained same although the cases registered have gown down as compared to previous two years.

The total number of

graft cases against women police officials in Pune have almost doubled in 2017 when compared with last year. 10 graft-related cases were lodged against women in 2016 while the figure stands at 17 in 2017.

As many as 187 trap cases were registered in 2017 compared to 186 cases registered in the corresponding period in 2016. During 2014, the ACB filed 226 cases while in 2015, the agency registered 221 cases, according to the statistics available with ACB. While 10 police officials were booked by in 2016, the figure went up to 17 in 2017. In contrast, the number of woman complainants have gone from 11 in 2016 to three in 2017.

According to the statistics available with the ACB, Pune Divisional Office revealed that the revenue department has retained the number one position in corruption and has bagged the top slot of being the most corrupt government department in Pune region. The revenue department was at the top of the list in 2015, according to ACB’s rankings. The police department occupied the second position while third rank was occupied by the land records department consecutively for 2015, 2016 and 2017 rankings.

Pune region along with the Aurangabad Division have fared worst on the conviction rate scale in the state. The conviction rate for Pune Division stood at an abysmal 13 per cent for the current year.

Joint commissioner (law and order) Rajendra Sonawane told pune-news.com that professional investigations of anti-corruption related crimes by the sleuths was the need of the hour. “Over the years, it is seen that there are vested interests of various stakeholders in the process which delays justice for a long time. Delayed justice is like denial of justice.”

“The cases which are presented before the court are often found to be inflated by the Investigation Officer (IO). The genuineness is missing and the court does believe in its evidentiary value which has in fact brought down the rate of conviction ,” he added.