Overview
- Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis chaired the State-Level Vigilance and Monitoring Committee on Friday and directed officials to improve outcomes in cases under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
- He ordered that public prosecutors be assessed on their conviction performance and asked for fast-track courts to be set up in districts with high numbers of atrocity cases to speed trials.
- The Home Department and its MARVEL institute were tasked to study why convictions are low and to draft standard operating procedures for investigation, evidence collection, witness protection and prosecution.
- The government instructed stronger training for sub‑divisional police officers, mandatory witness protection and video-recorded hearings for grave crimes, and asked police to probe hotspots such as Solapur, Parbhani, Nanded, Yavatmal and Ahilyanagar.
- Officials reported recent victim relief payments and helpline activity at the meeting, biannual state and police reviews were scheduled, and implementation will depend on the forthcoming study results and district reports.