Pursuit of justice

The NDA government introduced three Bills in the Lok Sabha on August 11, 2023, to replace the colonial-era criminal laws. The govt. claims that it would bring “transformative change” in the Indian judicial system by giving more importance to delivery of justice rather than punishment. Noble intentions? Yes, undoubtedly. But let us take a close look at the criminal justice system in India and the salient features of the Bills.

The police are the first point of contact for those affected by crime, and are entrusted with the task of investigating and apprehending criminals. But due to inefficiency, corruption, and political influence, they hardly do their jobs honestly. The judiciary is responsible for delivering justice through trials and sentencing, but due to inherent deficiencies in our laws and inadequacies among both prosecution and defence advocates, justice is delayed and often denied. While the correctional system is responsible for rehabilitating offenders and ensuring that they do not become habitual offenders, our jails are designed to punish and not rehabilitate the prisoners.

A great gulf divides insiders and outsiders in the criminal justice system in this country. The people who run the criminal justice system — police, prosecutors, defence advocates and judges — have information and power. They, to a large extent, influence the criminal justice system’s processes and outcomes. The system is cruel and harsh to the outsiders – crime victims and their families, especially if they are poor and common people without influence, and more so if the cases are false.

The Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860, Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), 1898, and the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, are the three main laws which govern the criminal justice system in our country. It has been a long-standing demand by the citizens and the non govt. organizations who work in this field to reform these British-era laws. The govt. proposes to replace these colonial laws by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) Bill, 2023, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) Bill, 2023, and Bharatiya Sakshya (BS) Bill, 2023.

So why do the NGOs demand the revision/replacement of these laws? In a nutshell, these laws are not people-friendly, as they lead to delayed and expensive trials that defeat the very purpose of justice. Many innocent undertrials languish in jail for years with no ray of hope in sight. Criminal justice system anywhere in the world, especially in a developing country like ours, is loaded against the poor, who cannot afford good lawyers or cannot pay their way through. These laws were formulated in the British period, and over the years there has been a sea change in the way people commit crimes, the type of crimes and the way evidence can be recorded. New forms of evidence gathering, aided by new technologies such as mobile phones, powerful cameras, and video recorders, need to be included in the Evidence Act to ensure time-bound and speedy trials. The present govt. has been working on this matter, and the Parliamentary Standing Committee in its 111th, 128th and 146th reports underscored the fact that the criminal laws in India needed urgent reforms.

The new Bills are very important and, when passed, will have a significant impact on the lives of the citizens of this country. Some of the key highlights of these Bills, in brief, are:

• Stricter laws for crime against women and children have been introduced. Section 65 (1) of the Bill says whoever commits rape on a woman under 16 years of age shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than 20 years, but which may extend to imprisonment for life, which shall mean imprisonment for the remainder of that person's natural life.

• Sedition law is repealed. But it has been replaced with section 150 of the BNS, which is quite formidable and elaborately defined. The quantum of minimum punishment has been increased from 3 to 7 years or life imprisonment. The govt. can also extradite the accused and the accused can be sentenced in absentia. The only way of appeal is to come back to India and go through the legal process in the country. Some right activists fear this law will have serious repercussions on dissent and disagreement.

• Section 111 of the BNS cites offences which can be termed as terrorist acts. It implicates a person who commits an act with the intention to threaten the unity, integrity, or security of India by using bombs, or explosives or lethal weapons in such a manner so as to create an atmosphere of or spread a message of fear to cause death or serious bodily harm to a person. However, right activists say how this law is going to be interpreted remains to be seen.

• Introduction of specific law against petty organized crime such as card scheming or ATM theft or organized crime, in general such as mob violence, lynching, arson etc. under section 109 and 110 of BNS. Hate crime or mob lynching will attract minimum punishment of 7 years for all the perpetrators.

There are certain good features in the new Bills. The crimes have been grouped together; they are no longer scattered. Crimes against women are grouped together, so are crimes against children. The concept of zero FIR has been formalized. Crimes have been made gender-neutral in some cases such as human trafficking. It appears Section 309 of the IPC which is attempt to commit suicide has been abolished. In other words, it has been decriminalized. This is a welcome reform. An interesting and long overdue feature is introduction of community service, in the section related to criminal defamation. Community service is quite common in countries like the USA but was hitherto an alien concept in India. It is a welcome step which will go a long way in bringing down the overcrowding of jails. More such transformative reforms were called for and they should have been introduced to provide relief to citizens in the long chain of law enforcement from commitment of a crime, arrest of a citizen, the trial and finally sentencing and punishment of a citizen convicted of criminal offenses. The Bill will now be scrutinized by a Parliamentary Committee. Hopefully it will be further improved and made more balanced and humane.

The aim of the Criminal Justice System is to protect the rights and personal liberty of individuals and the society, at large, against its invasion by others. How far will this objective be achieved by the new laws? Well, time will tell.

The writer is a former bureaucrat. Views expressed are personal