After long wait, Madras HC units up panel to overtake criminal justice gadget

After decades of calls for an overhaul of the crook justice gadget inside the nation, the Madras High Court has, in the end, ordered the constitution of a panel to be able to oversee the manner. On Wednesday, Justice N Anand Venkatesh of the Madras High Court got here down heavily on the state police, looking at a ‘sorry situation’ with reference to offenses, investigations, and punishment of persons. The ‘heterogenous committee’ is to be led by former Director General of Police R Nataraj and consists of Superintendent of Police (Retd) V Sithanan, senior endorse NR Elango, Director of the intellectual health NGO, The Banyan Dr. KV Kishore Kumar and M Sudhakar, Deputy Commissioner of Police. However, the panel capabilities no women or minorities who frequently grow to be being the worst-affected objectives of the machine that the court docket flayed in its verdict.
The courtroom reminded that the motive of crook justice is reformation, rehabilitation, and reintegration. Referring to the adage ‘once a crook usually a crook,’ the court docket said that this turned into the end result of the prevailing gadget triumphing in this nation. “We have forgotten the fundamental reason of Criminal Justice system that’s reformation, rehabilitation, and re-integration of the convict into society. If an accused is pushed to the extremes by means of this gadget where he unearths that despite the fact that he wants to turn a new leaf in his lifestyles, this machine will now not permit him, he’s going to rather surrender to his fate and end up a hardened criminal. A welfare state can never stoop right down to this type of level.” the court docket said.
The panel in order to be in charge of a ‘thorough revamping’ of the gadget has been tasked with giving it primary hints: on reforms that can be introduced into practice for reformation, rehabilitation and re-integration of the convict/accused individual into society and quality practices for improving the satisfactory of research. The court delivered that the suggestions can be placed to the discussion and applied by way of adding it to the guideline e-book. The Committee is asked to put up its file within a length of eight weeks, the courtroom stated.
Police’s sorry situation
Perusing crime statistics offered to the courtroom by using the government, an awesome part of the judgement changed into dedicated to observations on police behaviour in the nation, especially with regard to the indiscriminate usage of the Goondas Act (The Tamil Nadu Prevention of Dangerous Activities of Bootleggers, Drug Offenders, Forest Offenders, Goondas, Immoral Traffic Offenders, Slum Grabbers and Video Pirates Act, 1982). The court slammed the police for its mindset in the direction of criminals which gave rise to the registering of FIRs for ‘statistical purposes’ and justifying ‘needless detention orders’.
“It is going without announcing that the exceptional of investigation has come down appreciably and the records furnished by using the police, referred supra, makes it evident. The alacrity shown via the police in registering FIR and effecting an arrest isn’t seen in investigating the case, laying final file and taking the case to its logical cease.” the court docket determined.