The NCRB data indicates that though the number of new ‘riot’ cases has come down in the last few years, the pendency with the police has increased. Data further indicates that the same is the case with the courts. The annual disposal rate in courts of ‘riot’ cases is a dismal less than 10%. Even in those, more people are acquitted than convicted. In the earlier story, we analysed the trends in Police disposal of cases relating to offences against Public tranquillity. The data indicates that even though the number of reported cases has come down, the pendency rate with the police has increased. We have also observed that around 70% of the cases that are being investigated by the police are being chargesheeted within a period of 6 months and then move to the courts for trial. Trends over the last three years indicate that the number of cases being chargesheeted by police has reduced in line with the fall in the number of reported cases, although the charge sheeting rate has gone up. Even the proportion of long-standing cases being chargesheeted has increased in the recent times. Like we discussed in the previous story, the complete picture of the quality of the police investigation would be clear only after looking at the court disposal of these cases. In this story, we look at the numbers provided in NCRB’s Crime in India reports regarding disposal of these cases in courts. Like with Police, pendency has increased in Courts despite a fall in new cases Numbers from the last two years i.e. 2018 & 2019 indicate that the number of cases sent for trial at the courts has reduced. After an increase in 2017, the number of new cases sent for trial has shown a downward trend. In spite of a reduced number of cases that came up for trial, the total number of cases pending in courts at the end of each year has seen a consistent increase. In 2015, more than 4.95 lakh cases relating to ‘offences against public tranquillity’ were up for trial in courts, which increased to 5.71 lakh cases in 2019. Further, the number of cases pending trial in courts at the end of a year also saw a year-on-year increase despite the reduction in the number of new cases. Over the five-year period (2015-19), the number of cases pending trial in the courts at the end of the year increased from more than 4.57 lakh cases by the end of 2015 to 5.33 lakh cases by the end of 2019. With this huge backlog of cases pending trial in the courts, no amount of reduction in the new cases would help unless there is a substantial improvement of 3-4 times in the disposal rate. Only such an increase in the disposal rate would be able to reduce the pendency in courts. Number of Acquittals are higher than convictions, however the ratio has reduced Data indicates that in 2018 & 2019, the number of cases disposed by the courts is less than the number compared to that of 2017. Compared to 37.8 thousand trials completed in 2017, the various courts in India were only able to complete trials of 35.9 thousand and 35.3 thousand cases relating to offences against public tranquillity in 2018 and 2019. However, these numbers are slightly higher than 2015 and 2016. Apart from the cases which resulted in an acquittal or a conviction, a sizable number of cases are disposed without conducting a trial. These could be because of the prosecution (governments) withdrawing cases. The number of such cases also fell over the period 2015-19. Data indicates that in the cases relating to ‘Offences against Public Tranquillity’, the number of acquittals is significantly more than the convictions. However, the ratio of Acquittals and Convictions has come down over the years. In 2015, there were more than 4 acquittals for every conviction, which has come down to around 2.3 in 2019. This is due to an increase in the number of convictions and a reduction in the number of acquittals over the years. The trend of acquittals being more than convictions is contrary to the overall trend in IPC cases where the number of convictions is higher than the acquittals. Number of Acquittals compared to Convictions is higher in ‘Riot’ cases Cases belonging to ‘Rioting’ form the major portion of the cases up for trials in the courts for ‘Offences Against Public Tranquillity’. Around 4.7 of the 5.7 lakh cases i.e. 83% of the cases of ‘offences against public tranquillity’ that are pending trial in the courts at the end of 2019 are related to ‘rioting’. The proportion of these cases was much higher in 2017 when 91% of the pending cases under this head belonged to riots. Meanwhile, in terms of disposal of these ‘riot’ cases, the numbers have reduced in line with the overall trend. However, the major variation is in the ratio of Convictions to Acquittals.