Committee
for
Reforms in Criminal Laws
JUSTICE . LIBERTY . EQUALITY . FRATERNITY
Chairperson’s Message
Prof. Srikrishna Deva Rao
Announcements
Member and Convenor’s Message
In proposing the Indian Penal Code, Macaulay intended to bring about some semblance of certainty to the criminal justice system. “The principle is simply this”, Macaulay remarked, “uniformity when you can have it; diversity when you must have it; but, in all cases certainty.” After over a century and a half of its operation, the certainty that the code brought along with it is has given way to ambiguity. Further, even though we supplanted the colonial criminal procedure with our own in 1973, we are still faced with multiple problems, including but not limited to – pendency of cases; inconsistencies and inefficiencies in procedure pertaining to arrest, bail, investigation and trial; arbitrariness in police and prosecutorial actions; equation of victims to witnesses, etc. Our Laws of Evidence too require an urgent remodelling to suit the needs of modernisation.
The Committee for Reforms in Criminal Laws has been constituted as a response to the aforementioned and many other long-felt requirements for change. We hope to redesign the criminal law matrix of the country in order to make it more responsive and adept to the needs of a modern democracy. This requires an expansion of our conception of justice to—include all stakeholders; a re-examination of our principles of criminalisation; and, creation of procedures that are both inclusive and efficient. The Committee’s ultimate aim is to introduce comprehensive reforms that are based on the perennially trusted constitutional values of justice, dignity, and the inherent worth of the individual; which will ensure the safety and security of the individual, the community, and the nation at large.
