- INTRODUCTION
“Criminal justice is one of the most important areas of human rights, where the legal system is constantly put to the test to maintain social peace and security on the one hand and to protect the human dignity of both victims and perpetrators of crime.”[1]
Criminal justice is the system that administers justice to persons who have committed a crime. It includes the alleged crime, the officers that arrested him, the legal system that prosecutes and defends him, and the punishment the offender faces if convicted. Law enforcement authorities, the court system, and offender custody and supervision agencies all collaborate to uphold a society’s rule of law.[2] Criminal justice administration refers to the process of dealing with crime. The criminal justice system is responsible for determining whether a criminal act violates persons’ rights and taking steps to redress any imbalances. The criminal justice system focuses solely on justice as a solution to crime. The criminal justice system is limited to a post-oriented approach, focused primarily on previous crimes. The state established a criminal justice administration to uphold high standards of human conduct and safeguard individuals and communities. It aims to achieve its protection goal through enforcement by reducing the risk of crime and apprehending, investigating, convicting, and sentencing those who violate society’s rules and laws.[3]
- INDIAN POLICE AND ABUSE OF POWER
In the case of Sunil Batra V Delhi Administration in 1980, it was ruled that the Supreme Court, operating under the Constitution, has the ultimate authority to safeguard fundamental rights, extending this protection to all citizens, including prisoners. Articles 19 (Freedom), 20 (Protection against conviction for an act, not an offense), and 21 (Protection of life and personal liberty) are universally applicable to all individuals. This means that police officers must understand that it is not permitted for them to inflict even the slightest physical harm on anybody unless it is in self-defense.[4] But is it really what is happening? Police brutality is widespread in many countries, particularly in a country like India. The misuse of power by law enforcement erodes public trust in the system. One of the primary reasons for this is that police officers have lost their professionalism and have become heavily politicized. They are influenced by political leaders who have utilized the authority of appointments and transfers to benefit weak or corrupt officers at the expense of the public interest. Their primary areas of interference include appointments, transfers, rewards, and punishments. Bribery, or the exchange of money or other valuables between the police and the wrongdoer, is an example of general police corruption. Other police crimes may include brutality, false encounters, sexual harassment, custodial offenses, and the illegal use of weapons.[5]
The National Human Rights has also many times intervened against this custodial violence. Despite all these interventions still, there are reports of custodial violence and deaths in police custody.
Many cases include P.P. Unnikrishnan v. Puttiyottil Alikutty[6], Uttarakhand Sangharsh Samiti v. the State of Uttar Pradesh[7], Saheli vs. Commissioner of Police[8], can be sighted as examples of the draconian attempts by the police force.
According to police exchanges, the money extorted from these people reaches higher levels.
In big cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Lucknow, Ghaziabad, and Hyderabad, there is a growing relationship between police officers and operators. These mafia syndicates bribe the police, and the incidents go undetected. Delays are one of the leading causes of corruption. According to the Santhanam Committee report (1964), administrative delays are a significant source of corruption. These delays are often used to obtain illegal benefits. “Speed money” has become a common form of corruption, especially in obtaining licenses and permits.[9]
- PRISON CONDITIONS AND REHABILITATION
In India over one million criminal cases are reported every year. Each annual incidence of crime in the country necessitates the existence of a huge network of prisons and other institutions of correctional administration. In India, the number of prison inmates per million is one of the lowest in the world. There are a total of 1,393 prisons of different categories and sizes, with an authorized inmate capacity of 320,450, according to 2010 survey. [10]
According to the Standing Committee report, it was observed that “Overcrowded prisons have serious consequences for both prisoners and the criminal justice system. The national average occupancy rate in prisons across India is 130%. Six states, including Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Madhya Pradesh, account for more than half of the prisoner population. Four of these six states have an occupancy rate higher than the national average.” [11] The Committee observed that over 70% of the prisoners are undertrials. It noted that prison administrations spend more money on keeping undertrials inside jails than the bail money required for their release.[12]
The severe congestion in jails results in bad living conditions. Although several jails have improved, with an emphasis on topics like as diet, clothes, and sanitation, terrible living circumstances persist in numerous prisons around the country. A special commission of inquiry, appointed following the 1995 death of a prominent businessman in India’s high-security Tihar Central Jail, reported in 1997 that 10,000 inmates faced serious health risks, including overcrowding, “appalling” sanitary facilities, and a lack of medical staff.[13]
Despite overcrowding, manpower shortages, and other administrative issues, some prisons have implemented innovative programs. For example, the Art of Living implements a SMART program at Tihar Jail. It contains two classes every month, with follow-up sessions held every weekend. Each year, two courses are held for prison staff. However, there may be more exceptions and experiments. Srijan’s effort aims to provide social rehabilitation there. However, such initiatives are few and far between in Indian prisons. Many prisons in India offer vocational training programs. However, they are frequently outdated. Almost none of the institutions offer well-planned prison programs, including daily structured activities, vocational training, pre-discharge supervision, and post-release monitoring.[14]
All these concerns have been addressed in the Standing Committee Report on Home Affairs, as it proposes reforms for overcrowding, transferring prisoners from overcrowded jails to other jails within the same state or in other states by signing a Memorandum of Understanding. Also, regarding under-trial prisoners, it recommended creating a fund, similar to ‘Cheyutha Nidhi’ in Andhra Pradesh, to pay fine amounts for poor prisoners in all states/UTs.
- DEATH PENALTY
The potential of an error cannot be considered when it comes to the death penalty in India’s criminal system. Public support for the death penalty does not imply that the state’s taking of a human life is morally correct. There are clear historical precedents for grave human rights violations that received widespread support but were later strongly criticized. It is the responsibility of leading people and politicians to highlight the incompatibility of capital punishment with human rights and dignity.[15]
The death penalty is discriminatory. It is frequently employed against society’s most vulnerable groups, including the impoverished, ethnic and religious minorities, and persons with mental illnesses. Some governments use it to silence their adversaries. Where justice systems are defective and unfair trials are everyday, the potential of executing an innocent person is always present. When the death penalty is carried out, it is final. Mistakes that are made cannot be unmade. An innocent person may be released from prison for a crime they did not commit, but an execution can never be reversed.[16]
The concept of “an eye for an eye” is outdated and draconian. It does not deter crimes, but increase it. The focus should be on reducing violence and not seeking revenge. Executing a person because that individual is accused of taking someone else’s life is not what is meant by justice. Crime rates in countries that have abolished the death penalty have not increased. In fact, in some cases, they have decreased. For example, in Canada, the murder rate in 2008 was less than half of what it was in 1976 when the death penalty was abolished.
The case of Carlos DeLuna is a prime example of wrongful conviction. On December 7, 1989, Carlos DeLuna, a young Latino man, was executed for the 1983 murder of Wanda Lopez, an employee at a gas station in Corpus Christi, Texas, despite maintaining his innocence. He was just 27 years old. During his trial, prosecutors dismissed Mr. DeLuna’s claim of an alternate suspect, Carlos Hernandez, whom he insisted had committed the murder. They asserted that “Mr. Hernandez” was a “phantom” suspect whom Mr. DeLuna had fabricated. Mr. DeLuna was later convicted and sentenced primarily based on eyewitness misidentification.[17]
The death sentence is also wrong since it is sometimes used against innocent individuals. Since 1900, 350 persons have been wrongfully convicted of murder or capital rape. The death sentence makes it impossible to correct such errors. If the death penalty is not in place, guilty individuals who are later discovered to be innocent can be released and paid for the time they wrongfully served in jail.
The arguments for and against the death sentence speak to the value we place on life and the importance we have on achieving the greatest balance of good over evil. Each also emphasizes our dedication to “justice”: Is justice to be served at any cost? Or should our dedication to justice be balanced by our commitment to equality and respect for life? Is capital punishment our duty or doom?[18]
- CONCLUSION
India’s criminal justice system is caught between the legacy of its colonial past and meeting the requisites of a modern democratic society. From our exploration, we can see how challenges confront the system in multifarious facets across its entire range from law enforcement through imprisonment to the death sentence.
This is the constant blight of police brutality and corruption that rocks at the very foundation of justice and public trust, reflected in our discussion. These are stark reminders of the draconian attempts that the police force has continued to plague the system in the cases of P.P. Unnikrishnan v. Puttiyottil Alikutty and Saheli vs. Commissioner of Police. Added to these problems is the politicization of the police force and the “speed money” culture, which makes urgent reforms in police accountability and professionalism imperative.
The Condition of Prisons: What has emerged from our analysis is a grim picture of overcrowding and inadequate rehabilitation. With a national average occupancy rate of 130%, and some states far worse, the prison system is strained beyond capacity. The fact that most institutions lack well-planned, structured rehabilitation programs also underscores an unrealized opportunity for decreasing recidivism and increasing societal reintegration. It is only through a few initiatives that glimpses of potential solutions are seen, like the SMART program at Tihar Jail.
The debate over capital punishment raises some fundamental questions regarding justice, human dignity, and the role of the state in punishing. Carlos DeLuna’s case serves as a jolting reminder of the irreversibility of miscarriages of justice that may occur in capital cases. It puts the onus on any modern and rights-based judicial system to initiate a completely fresh and scrupulous examination of the role of the death penalty.
India, in the times to come, must actually work for comprehensive reforms in all spheres of the criminal justice system. These are stringent accountability measures for law enforcement, prison overcrowding through infrastructural betterment and options other than imprisonment, scaling up effective rehabilitation programs, and revisiting capital punishment very critically.
This reforming journey will definitely be a long-drawn, laborious process, and it will not just require policy changes but an attitudinal change at the very core of how society views justice and punishment. But as our paper has shown, the stakes are simply too high to continue on this trajectory. Fair, efficient, and humane criminal justice is not just a legal imperative; it is a moral imperative that any nation that takes pride in calling itself a democracy needs to aspire for.
This reform of the criminal justice system offers India the opportunity to make its practice in accord with enshrined constitutional values and international human rights instruments. Unless the deep-rooted flaws that this paper has pointed out are addressed, India will strive toward a justice system that punishes crime and upholds human dignity while promoting rehabilitation and equal justice to all citizens irrespective of social or economic status. The real test of our society will lie in how we respond to this challenge.
[1] Pyarali K. Tejani v. Mahadeo Ramchandra Dange, (1974) 1 SCC 167.
[2] Stephanie Ruesch, LibGuides: Criminal Justice & Criminology: What Is Criminal Justice? And What Is Criminology?, libguides.heinonline.org (2023), https://libguides.heinonline.org/criminal-justice-and-criminology.
[3] N.K Dutta, Origin and Development of Criminal Justice System in India (1990).
[4] Sunil Batra vs Delhi Administration 1978 AIR 1975.
[5] R Thilagraj, Criminal Justice System in India , https://globcci.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Criminal-Justice-System-in-India-2013.pdf.
[6] PP. Unnikrishnan V Puttiyottil Alikutty 2000 (8) SCC 131
[7] Uttarakhand Sangharsh Samiti V the State of Uttar Pradesh (1996) 1 UPLBEC 461
[8] Saheli vs. Commissioner of Police 1990 AIR-513
[9] Naman Jain, Critical Analysis of the Criminal Justice System in India, 5 International Journal of Law Management and Humanities 1916 (2022).
[10] Id. At 2
[11] Prison- Conditions, Infrastructure and Reforms, (2023).
[12] Id.
[13] Shubham Kashyap, Major problems of prison system in India, Times of India Blog (2022), https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/readersblog/shubham-kashyap/major-problems-of-prison-system-in-india-40079/.
[14] Id. At 4
[15] International Commission Against Death Penalty, Why the Death Penalty should be abolished – International Comission Against the Death Penalty, International commission against death penalty (2022), https://icomdp.org/why-the-death-penalty-should-be-abolished/.
[16] Amnesty International, The Death Penalty – Your Questions Answered, Amnesty International (2023), https://www.amnesty.org/en/what-we-do/death-penalty/the-death-penalty-your-questions-answered/#:~:text=It%20is%20the%20ultimate%20cruel.
[17] Carlos Deluna, Petitioner-appellant, v. James A. Lynaugh 5th Cir. 1989.
[18] Claire Andre & Manuel Velasquez, Capital Punishment: Our Duty or Our Doom?, http://www.scu.edu (2014), https://www.scu.edu/mcae/publications/iie/v1n3/capital.html.
Author: Anju S Ghosh
Juris Centre 