Criminal Justice System in India

India’s traditional criminal justice system had become outdated and needed new reforms. According to the Malimath Committee, the current system “failed to focus on fairness for crime victims sufficiently” and “weighed in support of the guilty.” Before we get into the new reforms, let us highlight what is the criminal justice system, how was the Malimath Committee formed, and what does it do? The traditional criminal justice system was designed in the 19th century under British colonisation, and hence the relevance of these 19th-century laws is arguable in the 21st century.

What Is the Criminal Justice System? 

The criminal justice system refers to the organisations in the government concerned with providing justice to innocent people by enforcing laws, correcting criminal conduct, and sentencing crimes. The objectives of a criminal justice system are laid down:

• To prevent crimes that occur almost every day.

• To punish criminals and transgressors.

• To compensate and help victims.

• To ensure that law and order are maintained in the country.

• To ensure that an offender does not commit other felonies.

Background of the Criminal Justice System in India 

The old criminal justice system was prone to various criticisms. The government of India and the Ministry of Home Affairs decided to form a committee called the Malimath Committee. Justice V.S. Malimath, a former Chief Justice of the Kerala and Karnataka high courts, head of the Central Administrative Tribunal, and member of the National Human Rights Commission, chaired the committee. The members of this committee included Sri S. Varadachary, a former advisor in the planning commission and Sri Amitabh Gupta, who was the former Director-General of Police. Sri Durgadas Gupta, Joint Secretary (Judicial) of the Ministry of Home Affairs, was appointed as the Secretary. 

The criminal justice system’s main purpose was to offer help to the innocents and punish the guilty. Now that we have looked into the background of the criminal justice system in India, let us see what was done to correct these deficits in the system.

The Justice Malimath Committee 

The Malimath Committee was formed to revamp the Criminal Justice System (CJS), which was bad then. After a thorough examination of the national criminal law systems, the committee proposed several recommendations to bring out a new change in the existing CJS. The committee also questioned India’s adversarial judicial system, in which a judge maintains a neutral stance while counsel is responsible for the presentation and discovery of evidence and facts. The group recommended that some aspects of the adversarial system, in which the judge emerged as powerful in examining and gathering evidence, be adopted.

The Malimath Committee’s Recommendations on Reforms in the Criminal Justice System

Here are the key reforms that were suggested by the six-member panel of the Malimath Committee:- 

1. The Malimath Committee favoured taking elements from the inquisitorial style of investigation used in nations like France and Germany, where a judicial magistrate oversees the probe. The group proposed that courts be given the authority to summon anyone for questioning, whether or not they are designated as a witness. 

2. The Malimath Committee stated that one of the major flaws with the Indian criminal justice system is the low conviction rate. India’s conviction rate for cognisable IPC crimes was 43% in 2018. Recommendations to increase the State’s investigation techniques should be thoroughly studied as they would modernise the system and make it more efficient without giving the judge too much autonomy.  

3. They advocated a change to Article 20 (3) of the Constitution, safeguarding the accused from being forced to testify against themselves. The panel suggested that the court be granted the authority to examine the accused and draw an adverse inference against him if he refuses to answer. The Committee also believed that the suspect should be obliged to write a statement with the prosecutor outlining their position. 

4. Offences Against Women – The committee increased the emphasis on crimes against women. Bigamy, adultery, rape, and domestic abuse were all taken care of. However, the Committee opposes the death sentence for rapists and proposes a possible alternative punishment.

5. Changes to Police Investigations – The time spent in police detention was 15 days. The Committee recommended that this be increased to 30 days, with an extra 90 days for filing charge sheets in notable offences.

Conclusion 

Despite all the new reforms, there are quite a few issues with the new Criminal Justice System in India. While the report recommends that the current judicial system be transformed into an inquisitorial system, it ignores the increased burden on the court and the need for much greater infrastructure that such a change would involve. Crimes against members of the Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes have not been mentioned in the report. Policy uncertainty abounds in the Criminal Justice System, and India has to establish a clear policy that will guide any changes to the IPC or CrPC.