The Supreme Court, in its detailed order granting bail to Alt News co-founder Md Zubair, noted that "the machinery of criminal justice has been relentlessly employed against the petitioner". In general, the bench pointed out in clearest terms that arrest "must not be used as a punitive tool". This incident of the topmost judicial institution of the country flagging serious concern about the criminal justice system is indeed a matter of grave concern. It may be noted, however, that the apex court has raised such concerns on several occasions in the past as well — but to no avail. Way back in 2014, the then Chief Justice of India, RM Lodha, pointing towards high number of undertrials and low conviction rate, had said that "the process itself has become a punishment. As head of judiciary, I (RM Lodha) cannot feel more pain than that". Last year in December, while dealing with a case against a Maoist leader charged under UAPA, the Supreme Court had indicated an abuse of the criminal justice system by the means of prolonged detention of undertrials. In recent years, there has been a spate of high-profile cases — including the Bhima Koregaon case, Delhi riots, JNU violence and the list is long — where accused underwent rigorous and prolonged judicial proceedings without chargesheets and trials. The Prison Statistics India report for 2020 — released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) — stated that 76.1 per cent of all persons held in India's prisons were undertrials. A report published by The Leaflet analyzed the NCRB data to find a "disproportionate representation of Muslims, Sikhs, as well as Dalits and Adivasis, relative to their share in the population according to the 2011 census." An inference can be drawn that not only the criminal justice system is used as a punitive tool, it is also leading towards a targeted "punishment". As per Crime in India 2020 report, a total of 44,24,852 persons were arrested under 42,54,356 cases of IPC crimes while 6,34,229 persons were convicted, 5,03,044 persons were acquitted and 55,650 persons were discharged. The overall conviction rate, therefore, stood at 14.3 per cent. Not just is India's conviction rate low in comparison to global standards, it is getting worse each passing year — leading to procedural punishment for many and also overburdening the jails and the courts. The Supreme Court in Md Zubair's bail order clarified that police's power to arrest individuals at various stages of the criminal justice process is not "unbridled". The practice over the past few years has been quite contrary to the apex court's interpretation. The high pendency of cases, and resultant prolongation of detention, can be attributed to two reasons — disproportionate and unwarranted arrests by the police, and the courts' inability to deal with the number of cases at its disposal. The courts' inability appears to be driven by limitations while the police arrests appear to be driven by discretion or direction. Police have overreaching powers across the country and, in certain cases, are alleged to work on commands of political masters. Their political inclination feeds on the loopholes present in the process of their recruitment, transfer, emoluments etc. Extensive police reforms for breaking the tradition of political influence over policing have been advocated for many years but to no avail. The perception around police has shifted a great deal — from being a public service to be used as a political tool. The apex court noted that Section 41 of the CrPC (Code of Criminal Procedure) as well as the safeguards in criminal law exist in recognition of "the reality that any criminal proceeding almost inevitably involves the might of the state, with unlimited resources at its disposal, against a lone individual." Most importantly, the court didn't fail in highlighting the "gravest possible consequence emanating from criminal law" — the loss of personal liberty. To sum up, the Supreme Court has only highlighted the obvious, and that too, not for the first time. The abuse of police forces and investigation agencies in India is a naked truth — with only a transparent shield of silence around it. It is good that the Supreme Court has broken that silence. However, given the arduous tasks at hand — of bringing in police reforms and transforming the criminal justice system — the order can't even be called a beginning.