Without conviction: Pendencies in hate speech cases have been rising

Between 2017 and 2020, the number of cases filed under Section 153A pending trial in courts doubled from 1,435 to 2,869. There was a 147 per cent jump in cases pending for 1-3 years

Last week, the government arrested Mohd. Zubair, co-founder of Alt News—a fact-checking portal—under Section 153A and Section 295 of the Indian Penal Code. Based on a complaint registered by an anonymous Twitter account, the police filed a case against Zubair for promoting enmity between groups (Section 153A) and offences relating to religion (Section 295).

However, this is not the first instance of police using Section 153A. An IndiaSpend analysis found that the filing of cases under Section 153A has increased 500 per cent between 2014 and 2020, as per NCRB data.

Further analysis by Business Standard shows that even though cases have increased, pendency at the stage of police investigations and courts has risen. In 2015, while police filed a chargesheet in 80.9 per cent of cases under Section 153A of the IPC, the pendency was 57.4 per cent. In 2020, NCRB data showed that chargesheets were filed in 72.6 per cent of the cases, and pendency on the part of the police had increased to 64.3 per cent. Chargesheet filing dipped in 2016 to 65.4 per cent, but it has risen again.

 

In cases placed before the courts, the pendencies are even higher. In 2015, 91.4 per cent of the cases filed under Section 153A were pending before courts. In 2020, as per NCRB data, 93.2 per cent was pending.

 

Even though conviction rates rose from 13.8 per cent in 2015 to 20.4 per cent in 2020, so have acquittals. In 2017, for instance, while 15 people were convicted under Section 153A of the IPC, 108 were acquitted. In 2020, 38 were convicted, but acquittals also rose to 148.

NCRB data also illustrates the slow pace of the judicial process. Between 2017 and 2020, the number of cases filed under Section 153A pending trial in courts doubled from 1,435 to 2,869. The number of cases pending for less than a year increased 68 per cent during this period; there was a 147 per cent jump in cases pending for one to three years and a 117 per cent jump in cases pending for 5-10 years. The number of cases pending for over a decade increased nearly four times from 11 in 2017 to 37 in 2020, as per NCRB data.

 

Cases filed under Section 153A had one of the lowest conviction rates among other IPC crimes and one of the highest pendency rates.