MUMBAI: Even as the complaints of graft are piling up with state’s anti-corruption bureau (ACB), Mumbai division, the amount of cases getting converted into FIR and eventually achieving convictions in the last four years are miniscule. While activists say it justified the inaction on part of the bureau as well as the government’s own vigilance (that works at the level of each department), the senior police officers say majority complaints either lacked the substance or are referred to government departments as mandated by law. Meanwhile, former top cops suggest immediate scrapping of the law that mandates permission of government departments to launch inquiries against their officers to take the conviction rate remarkably up.
As per the information received by Jeetendra Ghadge of The young Whistle-blowers Foundation through an RTI, suggested that between Jan 2019 and Nov 2022 out of 10,925 complaints received by ACB Mumbai Division only 276 inquiries were ordered and out of those inquiries, only 4 FIR's have been registered while 71 inquiries were closed without action and around 205 are still pending. “Thus ACB has ordered only 2.5% inquiries from the complaints they received whereas only 1% of the inquiries ordered were converted into FIRs. Further, ACB has forwarded 6098 complaints to respective govt departments when Bombay High Court order in a PIL has directed ACB to stop forwarding complaints and take action on its own. This is a clear violation of that order,” said Ghadge. He said on an average 90% of the cases registered by the ACB are trap cases where an accused is caught red-handed accepting a bribe, unfortunately looking at the conviction rate it's clear that all these accused get acquitted in court which is shocking. “Only 4 convictions were secured during the period whereas in 28 cases the accused have been acquitted. The ACB has failed to secure a single conviction in the last three consecutive years. How can a person caught red-handed get acquitted by the Court?,” he asked.
