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Reforms in the Criminal Justice System

Posted on August 19, 2021 by admin1  808

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  • Recently, a group of experts under the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) expressed serious concerns over the slow pace of reforms in the criminal justice system to ensure speedy justice.

NHRC Core Group Meeting: Key Points

  • The delay in disposal of cases was leading to human rights violations of the under-trials and convicts. 
  • Despite the Supreme Court’s directions on police reforms, there had been hardly any changes on the ground. 
  • Special laws and fast-track courts could replace certain offences under the Indian Penal Code in order to reduce the piling up of cases at every police station.
  • Not only were trials getting delayed, but court orders convicting a person also took years to implement. 
  • Delay in disposal of cases is leading to human rights violations of the under-trials and convicts.
  • Digitisation of documents would help in speeding up investigations and trials.
  • According to estimates, there were about 4.4 crore pending cases in the Supreme Court, High Courts and district courts.

Need for Reforms

  • Colonial Flavour: Law has not changed much since the colonial era.
  • Rising Pendency: Pendency of cases are rising exponentially with time and no additional mechanisms are being catered to (as per the demand).
  • Dissociated Process: The process is disconnected from the people it was built for and nurtured over time. They might gradually lose confidence in the framework of government.
  • Complexities: Cumbersome procedures are listed to initiate a case and till its disposal. Thus, people generally avoid getting into legal systems.
  • Poor Coordination: Lack of coordination and system approach poses a big hurdle as there is no proper SOP defined and followed, making problems bigger only for citizens.
  • Opaque System: Corruption is prevalent at all levels in the country. Lack of transparency in implementation of Law.
  • Low Awareness: Lack of awareness amongst individuals comes as a hurdle specially for less literate people. They don’t know about their rights, let alone when they are violated. 

 

(Image Courtesy: legalindia )

Way Ahead

  • Fill the vacancies: In subordinate courts and high courts, the power of judicial officers and judges is sufficiently enhanced. There should be no unfulfilled vacancies in courts.
  • Speedy Justice: The aim of our criminal justice system should be to provide speedy justice. Plea proceedings may also be used to reduce the immense backlog of cases.
  • Digitized Procedures: The system of Indian law should be completely digitized from the start to the end. It helps to save a lot of time for context documentation.
  • Advanced Training in All Domains: There must be thorough preparation for the judicial officers. Training in forensics should also be given. They shall coordinate refresher services in the light of rapid social change, the whole continuum of offences in terms of cognizable and unaware crimes has to be re-examined. 
  • Infrastructure Advancement: As society evolves rapidly, new forms of violent crime such as organized crimes, insurrections, terrorism, etc. emerge. For this reason, comprehensive training, new installations and infrastructural equipment are needed to be given to police and investigation agencies.
  • Handling Police Misconduct: Police brutality, misbehaviour by the police, prison abuse, police misconduct should be handled thoroughly and efficiently. 
  • Abrogate Obsolete Laws: The obsolete and anomalous acts should be abrogated. The legislature should be careful to multiply the number of criminal laws.
  • Less Expensive Justice: It is important to make the justice system less expensive. Citizens discourage their cases from being put to courts because of the high fees of lawyers. 
  • Raise Awareness: Increasing awareness of laws among police personnel as well as citizens.
  • Prison Reforms: Overhauling and improvements are required in the overall situation of the prisons.
  • Implement the guidelines of Police Reforms laid down by the Supreme Court:

(Image Courtesy: MyGov )

Various components of the Indian Criminal Justice System

  • Legislative actions: 
    • The process of our criminal justice system starts with legislative actions. The legislature, however, does not constitute an organizational part of the system except to stress that the basis of the whole system relies on the laws they make, and their abuses must be regulated or reduced.
  • Law enforcement: 
    • Police or law enforcement sub-systems are the next part of the criminal justice system. 
    • The police are given these duties to preserve peace, law, and order, to deter crime and to arrest the violator of the law. 
    • Thousands of legislation may be passed by legislators but the law can be violated with impunity when the police refuse to act. 
    • As a primary law enforcement body, police should not only focus on the efforts of executing different rules but also on the free execution of them.
  • Adjudication: 
    • It is a judicial process further divided into two i.e:
  • Prosecution: 
    • The prosecutor decides how the judicial sub-system should prosecute a suspected violator. 
    • When the prosecutor deems the case to be serious, formal charges shall be laid down. Nevertheless, he does not have the ability to intervene.
  • Court: 
    • The role of the courts is more critical and essential than that of the police in the system of criminal justice. 
    • The primary mission of the Court is to provide justice which should be” fair, equal, quick, and unbiased. 
    • The judges must conduct their duties with great care and diligence to ensure that the public’s confidence in the judicial process is not undermined. 
    • The chairman must be mindful that his decision in the case would give the accused and the victim a positive image of justice or unfairness, contrary to the accused’s acquittal or conviction, whether lawfully or wrongfully. 
    • The first prerequisite of justice is an independent, impartial, and competent judiciary. 
    • It must be understood that a wrongful acquittal is both a breach of justice and an irrational view. 
    • ‘Rule of law’ in a democratic society is the working instrument of justice. 
  • Correctional agency: 
    • Correctional institutions are the last critical part of the criminal justice system. 
    • The correctional subsystem tries to rehabilitate the offender to keep him or her from violating the law again. It is hoped that by sanctioning the perpetrator, many people would also be prevented from violating the law. 
    • In the correctional system, there are two main options: probation and imprisonment, each with certain limits on one’s rights. Including corrections, facilities and other rehabilitative programs such as courts, juvenile court, and correctional homes, rehabilitation facilities should be regarded not simply as correctional agencies or correctional agents, but as a measure of their success in the criminal justice system.

 

Source TH

 
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