‘CBI pursuing over 10K under-trial cases pending in courts across India’

Kolkata: At a time when the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is conducting a court-monitored probe into the alleged rape and murder of a Post Graduate Trainee (PGT) doctor of RG Kar hospital, the Central agency is still pursuing the trial of more than 10,000 under trial cases that are still pending in various courts across the country.

Though CBI had claimed that its conviction rate is good, according to a media report published in a vernacular daily, about 911 cases are still pending in Bengal, including 112 cases, which are pending for the last 20 years.

According to an affidavit submitted by the CBI in the Supreme Court in 2021, one-third of the pending cases have passed 10 years while about 500 cases are pending for about 20 years. The affidavit reportedly showed 1,073 cases are pending in Maharashtra which is the highest in a state. About 905 cases were pending till 2021. Later, six more cases were added.

Despite having such a huge number of pending cases, CBI was given the responsibility of investigating several major cases. In Bengal, the CBI failed to solve Rabindranath Tagore’s Nobel theft case. Several important cases such as Nandigram case, Tapasi Malik murder case, multiple cases of chit fund scam, Narada sting operation, coal smuggling, cattle smuggling etc. were probed by the CBI but conviction in most of the cases are not yet done. However, it is said that ensuring conviction by convincing the court using the results of a probe is also a big responsibility for any investigating agency.