More people on trial for economic offences are acquitted than are convicted. Only around 33.6 per cent of such cases ended in convictions, showed data from the National Crime Records Bureau. A total of 56.5 per cent of completed trials ended in acquittals, showed a Business Standard analysis of the pandemic year data.

       The remaining 9.9 per cent of the trials ended with a discharge. This is a remedy for people who have been falsely accused, and for whom there isn’t sufficient evidence of the crime before the court. There were 1,757 such instances in 2020. The number of ...