CRIMINAL VICTIMIZATION AND JUSTICE ADMINISTRATION IN INDIA

admin | May 16, 2018 | Criminal Law | No Comments

This article was written by Raj Krishna and Priyam Raj, students of CNLU.

INTRODUCTION

Crime can be defined as an activity that involves breaking the law and enforcements[1]. Victimization is a crime that affect an individual or household and can happen to any person, community etc. Its impact depends upon various factors and it further has several consequences like financial, psychological and many more upon the victims.[2] According to the UN General Assembly Declaration of Basic Principles Of Justice for Victim and Abuse of Power, 1985 Victim is defined as persons who individually or collectively have suffered harm including physical or mental injury, emotional suffering, economic loss or substantial impairment of their fundamental rights through acts or omissions that do not yet constitute violations of national criminal laws but of internationally recognized norms relating to human rights.[3] In India, National Crime Record Bureau was set up in 1986 that measures crime statistics recorded by the police on which the crime measurement is based upon.[4]

Administration of justice is a comprehensive term which is operated on the persons suspected of crime. Criminal law in its wider sense consists of both procedural and substantive law. Administration of justice with reference to criminal law is operated to bring the substantive law of crime which refers to the rule of law governing detection, investigation, apprehension, interviewing, and trial of persons who is suspected of crime. It is not limited to the person suspected but also bears responsibility of those who work within their rules. The main objective of administration of justice is that fair trial and impartial justice provided to the person and also punishment to the wrongdoer.[5]

STATUTORY PROVISIONS RELATED TO ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE

In India the administration of justice is based on four things:

Constitution- The framers of our Constitution have placed justice at the top of the table and have tried every possible manner that no one in the country [Both Citizen and People] is treated in an unjust manner. Article 14 of our Constitution ensures equality before law and equal protection before law. Further the Constitution also deals with the matters like protection in respect of conviction for offences under Article 20, protection of life and personal liberty under Article 21, protection against arrest and detention under Article 22, appeal to supreme court in criminal matters under Article 134, power of president and governor to pardon, suspend and sentence under Article 72 and 161 which have a direct bearing on criminal justice administration.[6]

Indian Penal Code- Indian Penal Code was enacted in 1860. It defines various offences like murder, rape, sexual harassment, culpable homicide, kidnapping etc. and also provides punishment for the offences.

Evidence Act- One of the main objectives of the Evidence Act is to prevent laxity in the admissibility of evidence and to introduce a more correct and uniform rule of practice. The Act prescribes rules for admissibility of the evidence on the issues as to which the courts have to record findings. The main principles, which underlie the law of evidence, are—(1) Evidence must be confirmed to the matter in issue; (2) Hearsay evidence must not be admitted; and (3) Best evidence must be given in all cases.[7]

Code of Criminal Procedure- It is a procedural law. It describes the power of the police in dealing with the offenders, the hierarchy and power of the courts etc… It also makes effective provisions for the prevention of crimes.[8] The procedure of administration of justice is defined in CrPC and the procedure is divided into 4 steps: (1) Investigation (2) Inquiry (3) Trial (4) Punishment.

Further there are 2 types of offences: (a) cognizable offences and (b) Non –cognizable offences. Cognizable offences are defined as the offences in the police has the authority to arrest without warrant, as per the first schedule of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973 or any other law for the time being in force.[9] Non-cognizable offences are those offences in which the police have no authority to arrest without warrant.[10]

If the victim of cognizable offences informs the police about the offence, it should be reduced in writing by the police and is read to the informant under section 154(1) of CrPC.[11] The informant is required to sign on it and receive one copy of it under section 154(2) of CrPC.[12] Under section 154(3) of CrPC if the police refuses to file an FIR, the victim can send the information in writing and by post to the Superintendent of police[13]. Further under Section 157(2) if the police refuse to investigate the case for whatever reason, the police is required to notify the same to the informant of that fact.[14]Apart from that under Section 190 of the CrPC, victim has the right to approach the Magistrate if the victim wants to avoid going to the police for redress.[15] Thus, it can be said there is a very effective mechanism in India to bring criminal law into motion.

PROBLEMS FACED BY THE VICTIMS

The victims are often harassed and ill-treated. In the matters of investigation victim has a role to play. Even in granting or cancellation of bail, victim has interest. Under Section 439(2) the victim can move to the court for cancellation of bail but it depends on the stand taken by the prosecution.[16] Further under Section 321 of CrPC, without consulting the victim the prosecution can seek withdrawal at any time. The victim thus cannot challenge the prosecution decision at the final stage.[17] There is also a provision of compensation but it is of little value. Section 357 state that if fine is imposed as a sole punishment, a part of it has to be paid to the victim as per the discretion of the court. [18] Section 357(3) of CrPC further makes provisions for compensation even if a fine does not form part of the punishment.[19]There is no question of compensation if there is acquittal or where the offender could not be apprehended. In order to restore the confidence of the society in the administration of criminal justice, these provisions should be used and it would have a healing effect in the aggrieved person.

However, like any other institutions of the government, the judiciary is also equally corrupted. There is no provision to file an FIR against a judge taking bribe without the permission of Chief Justice of India. There is no transparency and accountability. In India there are a large numbers of pending cases which keeps on increasing day by day. This shows that the Indian Judicial System is getting over-burdened day by day which is further leading to increased victimization. Further the Legal system is outside the ambit of RTI. Apart from that in Indian jails most of the prisoners are under trial prisoners who actually spend more time in jail than the actual sentence.[20] Thus, it can be said that the present condition is not good and we need to take some immediate measures to improve the same.

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS

It has been rightly said that justice delayed is justice denied. Some strong measures thus need to be taken in order to provide fair and timely justice. Presently the ratio of judges is 13 for one million citizens. It should be raised to minimum 50 per million populations. Further the present adversarial system does not encourage the presiding judges to correct the aberrations in the matter of production of evidence before the court, investigation etc… Thus, we need to change the Adversarial System into Inquisitorial System in order to bring positive changes. Apart from that India needs electronic filing system, higher filing cost to prevent frivolous litigation, improved tracking of cases, more alternative option for dispute resolution, pre litigation measures and plea bargaining in order to make justice mechanism more effective. [21] If such happen then only we can improve the state of Judiciary and condition of victims in our country.

[1] http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/8854/11/11_chapter%20iv.pdf , visited on 10^th April, 2018 at 11:30 a.m.

[2] https://www.crimesolutions.gov/TopicDetails.aspx?ID=94 , visited on 11^th April, 2018 at 11:45 a.m.

[3] http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/40/a40r034.htm , visited on 12^th April, 2018 at 1:30 p.m.

[4] http://ncrb.gov.in/ , visited on 13^th April, 2018 at 1:45 p.m.

[5] http://www.duhaime.org/LegalDictionary/A/AdministrationofJustice.aspx , visited on 14^th April, 2018 at 12: 30 p.m.

[6] http://www.dalbirbharti.com/CRIME%20AND%20JUSTICE%20for%20PDF.pdf , visited on 13^th April, 2018 at 1:30 p.m.

[7] http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/45012/10/10_chapter%205.pdf , visited on 15^th April, 2018 at 1:45 p.m.

[8] http://www.allahabadhighcourt.in/event/admin_of_criminal_justice_in_india.html , visited on 15^th April, 2018 at 4:00 p.m.

[9] Criminal Procedure Code Of India, 1973Section 2(c)

[10] Criminal Procedure Code Of India, 1973Section 2(l)

[11] Criminal Procedure Code Of India, 1973 Section 154(1)

[12] Criminal Procedure Code Of India,1973 Section 154(2)