Please understand few things with reference to criminal cases and 498-A in particular. As the saying goes Statistics tell few things, but hide a lot more. The no of people spending time in prison may not have anything to do with the total convictions happening in trial courts.
Most of the times, it is not only one section of IPC that an alleged criminal is booked. Most of the 498-A cases has another couple of sections attached. Most of the instances these sections are 406 and 506 of IPC. And if the female is no longer alive, the sections added are 304-B, 306 etc etc.
Now coming to the low conviction rate for 498-A alone of in conjunction with other alleged crimes. Here are few things which should be thought for your mind and others.
1. For conviction to happen in lower court and the same to be sustained in higher court in appeal, the prosecution should establish the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable boubt. To think of reasonable doubt, see any FIR and there are allegations abound which makes the accused look like a dracula. The establishment of the tall story they made in FIR through evidences is a tough task. The non-proving of the tall claims lead to a doubt in the mind of court that the story in FIR is concocted and untrue and which should mean acquittal. However, there have been instances where the courts have erred and convicted an accused based on just the testimony and doubtful evidences, the same have been acquitted in appeal.
2. Most of the 498-A cases are compounded/ quashed by mutual consent before the completion of trial. As the justice delivery system is so prolonged after the initial heal settles down or the ego of the girl's family is satiated that they have atleast once imprisoned the boy and his family member. The cries of compromise begins. Most don't want to spend the lives in courts and going grey in the head. Hence a settlement is reached. Few judges and lawyers told me that the rate of such quashing is as high as 90-95% of total cases filed. Hence low conviction rate is just a by-product of such settlements.
3. Most of the cases that you read in websites etc are appeal cases. Which means that either the appeal is made to the court of second appeal, which is High Court (Session is often court of first appeal) or court of last resort, which is Supreme Court. Now come to think of it, who would go to these courts, the people who are convicted for a larger sentence than they have already undergone. For example an accused spent 30 days in prison before getting bail, and the court convicts him to 30 days only. Then there is no point of that person spending another years in courts trying to clear his name. Or a person is convicted and the judge left him by stating, "Mr. X, you are reprimanded." or by sentencing him till the lifting of the court.
These kind of cases rarely come for appeal. Similarly when the conviction is set aside by the Session Court, the appeal to High Court is unheard of.State generally does not go in for appeal if the person is acquitted. (There is a tendency on part of few judges to convict a person citing some vague reason to the term already undergone so as to avoid further litigation of defamation etc.).
Hence deducing anything from looking at cases on websites and figures of NCRB would be absurd.
And anyways having a fear of being convicted while fighting these cases is a recipe for disaster. I would rather say it like this, rarely an innocent person is convicted in Indian Courts. However there are instances when the culprits have been let loose.
And also, to add some more, I would like to tell you that when the trial court convicts a person for 498-A or any crime which has a punishment of upto 3 years, it extends the bail period to enable the person to go in for appeal. The convicted person is not remanded to custody unless he has exhausted the option of first appeal.
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