COMMITTEE ON CRIMINAL LAW REFORM
Context
- Recently, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has constituted a national level committee for reform in criminal law.
KEY POINTS
- Committee for Reform in Criminal Law:
o The committee constituted under Ranbir Singh would be gathering opinions online by
consulting with experts and collating material for their report to the government.
o The consultation exercise would start on 4th July 2020 and go on for the next three months.
- Background of Criminal Justice System
o The codification of criminal laws in India was done during the British rule, which more or
less remains the same even in the 21st century.
o Lord Macaulay is said to be the chief architect of codifications of criminal laws in India.
o Criminal law in India is governed by Indian Penal Code, 1860, Code of Criminal
Procedure, 1973, and Indian Evidence Act, 1872, etc.
NEED FOR REFORMS
- Colonial Era Laws: The criminal justice system is still based on the British colonial jurisprudence,
- which was designed with the purpose of ruling the nation and not serving the citizens.
- Ineffectiveness: The purpose of the criminal justice system was to protect the rights of the
- innocents and punish the guilty, but nowadays the system has become a tool of harassment of
- common people.
- Pendency of Cases: According to Economic Survey 2018-19, there are about 3.5 crore cases
pending in the judicial system, especially in district and subordinate courts.
- Undertrials: India has one of the world’s largest number of undertrial prisoners.
- According to NCRB -Prison Statistics India (2016), 67.2% of our total prison population
- comprises undertrial prisoners.
- Investigation: Corruption, huge workload and accountability of police is a major hurdle in speedy
- and transparent delivery of justice.
- Madhav Menon Committee: It submitted its report in 2007, suggesting various recommendations
- on reforms in the CJSI.
- Malimath Committee Report: It submitted its report in 2003 on the Criminal Justice System of
- India (CJSI).
- The Committee had opined that the existing system “weighed in favour of the
accused and did not adequately focus on justice to the victims of crime.”
WAY FORWARD
- India needs to draft a clear policy that should inform the changes to be envisaged in the existing
- criminal laws.
- It also needs to make simultaneous improvements in the police, prosecution, judiciary and in
- prisons.
- The focus of reform should be on reformative justice in order to bring all around peace in the