SYMBIOSIS INTERNATIONAL DEEMED UNIVERSITY

A clinical study on the need for new laws in the criminal law domain in
India

Submitted by

HAOVANGDONGLIEN KIPGEN

DIV: A

PRN: 18010323055

BATCH-2018-2023

SYMBIOSIS LAW SCHOOL, HYDERABAD

IN

AUGUST, 2020

Under the guidance of

Prof. SATYANARAYANA CHUKKA

SYMBIOSIS LAW SCHOOL HYDERABAD

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 INTRODUCTION

Criminal law is the Legislature the express what are the criminal acts, control the arrest of the
convicted person and sentencing criminal. It laid down the penalty which will be applicable
to convicted individuals. Criminal law is just one of the instruments by which structured
institutions secure the protection of individual interests and insure the group's existence. In
comparison, there are codes of behaviour instilled by family, education, and religion; the
workplace and factory rules; the civil life laws imposed through regular police powers; and
the penalties provided by acts of torture. It is impossible to make the line between criminal
law and tort law with great accuracy, although in principle one may assume that a tort is a
personal injury while a crime is viewed as an offence against the state, where the ultimate
victim may be a person. The criminal justice system comprises of various arrangements and
consists of different components which has the same goal1

Components

1. Legislature
The Legislature play an important role in any criminal justice system because they
provide the laws that show us what to do or what is an offence or a crime and they
also provide for the punishment which should be given to those who commits an act
of crime. So Legislature if often considered as the beginning of criminal justice
system because the court has to determine the innocence of an individual based on the
laws provided by the Legislature.
2. Police
Police also comes under the components of a criminal justice system. The duty of the
police is to maintain peace and law and order, to prevent criminal activities and to
arrest individual who has violate the laws. Without the police, the other components
of a criminal system cannot function. Even if the Legislature provides a new law, the
effectiveness of the new law depends on the police to carry out their duty because
anyone can violate the laws if the police do not perform their duty. The failure of a
government depends on the safety of its citizens. If the mass public does not feel safe
to carry on with their daily activity then the government is considered to fail. The one
major problem that the police face is the constant attack from the political parties2.
Since the police are the main components to enforce law, they should be provided
with a little bit of free functioning to carry out their duty. If the police are attack by
the different political parties, then it will become a major problem to them in carrying
out their duties.
3. Prosecutor
To explain it simply, a prosecutor is an individual who has the power to determine
what the accused should be processed with. It completely depends on the prosecutor

1
S. Venugopal Rao, Criminal Justice. Problems and Perspectives. Delhi, Konark Publications 4 (1
2
S. K. Ghosh, Torture and Rape in Police Custody, New Delhi, Ashish Publications 9 (199

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 whether an accused should be processed by the judicial sub system. Even though he
has all these powers, a prosecutor cannot take part in an investigation.
4. Judiciary
Different courts plays different role in a criminal justice system. However, the role of
a court is considered to be much more significant and important than that of the
police. The main duty of the court is to provide free and unbiased decision and quick
and swift justice. The judges have to carry out their duty with extreme caution and
care because if they make mistake the public will starts to doubt the judiciary system.
This is because the judgement given by the judge will affects the life of the accused
and the victims so any mistake will not be taken lightly. It is because of this reason
that a competent and unbiased judge is required.

The primary aim in practicing criminal justice is to uphold and maintain the rule of law which
Implies enforcement of law, peace preservation, a just, equitable and quick jury, deterrence.
The present justice system with regards to criminal law consists of different disorder and
liability that is the process of legal procedure is very slow that is it takes a lot of time and the
justice system mainly focuses on the accused rather than the victim. The justice system gives
its priority to the rights and needs of the accused and sometime the victims are just left in the
corner. And there is lack of cooperation within the system. As a result of slow or delayed in
the justice system, there is over populated jails in different part of our country. The cost of
the legal process is also very high, most people have financial trouble trying to pay the legal
fees. And the investigation also needs to improve because right now it Is not up to
satisfaction and witness should be provided with security for their safety so that there will be
more person willing to come forward in the future.

The criminal justice system that we have today does not give us quick and swift justice and
do not ensure us that the criminals will be receive punishment for their crime. There are many
cases undecided in the court of law for many years and some cases are even pending for more
than 15 years. This has cause overcrowding in jails across the country. Even various sub
sections of the justice system like the prosecution and police have not met the expectation
and this has cause the public to doubt the present criminal justice system that we have. The
failure to prevent crime, provide punishment, speedy justice has become a major concern
because it can endanger the base of our rule of law which can lead to lawlessness and
disorganisation. Therefore there is a grave need for reform in our criminal justice system and
need for new laws in the criminal system.

The criminal law regarding sexual crime is also not so great either. As we can see from the
past solutions to sexual issues offence in India shows that a law enforced in the aftermath of
one 'illustrated' incident is always based on a rushed interpretation of the issue that is
sometimes incomplete and vague. India's lawmaker's guide to rule change In particular, the
punishment laws when it comes to sexual offences is fragmentary instead of piecemeal Broad
and comprehensive. Since mob plays a great role in reforms on laws in India, we can see that

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political leaders will rush some laws to be implemented in order for them the gain the public
support or to push himself away from blame.

Some of the problems within the criminal justice system

 No coordination
For a criminal justice system to function properly and carry put its work, all of its
components needs to work together and there should cooperation between them. This
is because it one components fails to carry out its function the other component
automatically fails too. The main problem is considered to be the lack of cooperation
between the prosecution and police. No particular component can or should be
blamed for the lack of conviction. For the police to conduct a successful investigation,
it depends on the ability of the prosecutor to collect the evidence and persuade the
officer of the court. Hence, we see the need for cooperation between them.
 Police misconduct
Corruption has become a major problem within the police form in recent years. This
corruption is not just within the money sector but also through connections or
influences by other people in higher positions. This automatically means that poor
people and people who cannot have influences on the police can no longer approach
the police for whatever reasons they have. When investigation are conducted by these
corrupted and in competent police, it results in the culprit not being in jail and
walking around freely and some of the culprit even continue with their criminal acts.
This deeply affects the victim. This is because of rich businessmen and politicians
bribing the police. The police can be easily influence by money. Custodial death and
torture has become a major problem even though the constitution safeguards the
liberty and life of an individual. The police abused their power and completely turn a
blind eye to what is given in the constitution. This act of the police is greatly
unacceptable.
 Expensiveness of our justice system
The cost of legal procedure and litigation is very high. This makes it difficult for poor
and backward sector of the society to have equal rights. Even if each individual have
equal rights in theory, factors like this have become a challenge for poor and
backward sectors of the society.
 Mass discharge of convicts
Mass discharge of convicts, have put doubt in the minds of the public regarding the
power or competency of the criminal justice system. The people believe that the
justice system favours the criminals or that the justice system is not providing justice.
Many of these mass acquittals have been because of faults in investigation. This is
because of the incompetent staff within the police force, and the inability to carry out
a proper investigation. However, the police are no to be blame completely because
some of the discharge are done by the judges who prefers the easy work of dismissing
the case of the prosecutor due to personal problems with them or little problems rather
than carefully going through the evidence.

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 The courts ought to react to the appeal for justice from society and convict the
accused with a fair and judicious approach to assessing the facts. This is not the
seriousness of punishment which dissuades, but the likelihood of punishment which
dissuades crime. Through a functional criminal justice system no amount of economic
growth or desirable social transformation is ever feasible. The National Police
Commission in 1979-80 made an example review in six States of India, which
uncovered that a normal examination official had the option to dedicate onlv 37
percent of his chance to investigational work while the remainder of his time was
taken up by different obligations associated with upkeep of open request, VIP
Bandobast, request enquiries, preventive control and reconnaissance, court
participation and so forth. NPC hence stressed the critical requirement for expanding
the quality of the framework of researching officials and furthermore for reserving
some staff only for taking care of investigational work.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE

 To identify the Maladies existing in the Criminal Justice System

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

 What are the maladies existing in the Criminal Justice System?

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  What are the different function and duties of the various components of a Criminal
Justice System?
 Is the Criminal law amendment bill, 2019 a better future for the Criminal Justice
System?
 What are the changes that needs to be made in the Criminal Justice System?

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The present research methodology for this paper is doctrinal and analytical methodology. It
includes different books, journals, web references, E-journals, reports etc.

Secondary sources are used to collect relevant materials doctrinal method cpmprises of
concepts cases, statues and rules. .

CHAPTERIZATION

1. Introduction

2. Components of Criminal Justice system

3. Maladies in Criminal justice system

4. The concept of Speedy Justice- a detailed analysis.

5. Critical analysis of the Criminal amendment bill, 2019

6. Suggestion for Improving the Criminal Justice System

7. Conclusion

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 SOURCES/ REFERENCES

Books
 The code of criminal procedure code by Batuk Lal
 The Code of Criminal Procedure- Ratanlal and Dhirajlal

Articles

 CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM: NEED FOR REFORMS by Anup Kumar

Online sources

 https://www.jatinverma.org/need-for-reforms-in-indias-criminal-justice-
system
 https://www.britannica.com/topic/criminal-law#ref303249