Public prosecutors are a bane of the legal system as they are political appointees, former Madras High Court judge Justice PN Prakash said on Friday..Justice Prakash was speaking on topic Reforming India's Criminal Justice System as part of a panel discussion hosted by the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy."Public Prosecutor is another bane of our system. They are political appointees and their juniors appear against them to support their case. The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) does not address this," the former judge said..Interestingly, the former judge was recently appointed as Special Public Prosecutor to handle matters on behalf of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) before the Supreme Court of India. The appointment was later withdrawn on the basis of a technicality..During the discussion, Justice Prakash highlighted that he was able to reduce 'Romeo Juliet' cases by coordinating with the police higher-ups directly."Another bane of our system is rank perjury at all levels. Until it is addressed, reforms are meaningless. Filing of civil suits to get people caught in litigation is also a bane. Then (in Tamil Nadu) the migrant workers from Bengal and Odisha face language issues in criminal cases, so we engaged Bengali associations etc to help," he added..The ex-judge also spoke about the low prison population in Tamil Nadu to state that India is essentially a fairly good country with law abiding citizens.He, however, also referred to criminal cases arising out of civil disputes."Inability of civil courts to quickly solve landlord, property disputes adds to criminal cases. All Magistrates flooded with (Section) 138 (Negotiable Instrument Act) cases," he said, while referring to cheque-bounce cases..National Law University, Delhi Vice-Chancellor Prof GS Bajpai, former Himachal Pradesh Director General of Police (DGP) Somesh Goyal and criminal justice expert Seema Joshi were also part of the panel.Prof Bajpai said that the ideology of the criminal justice in India is very confusing, and that criminal law by its nature cannot be just because it deals with criminals."Torture and high-handedness etc is part of police culture here, not a feature of the criminal justice system," he added..[Read our live-coverage]
Public prosecutors are a bane of the legal system as they are political appointees, former Madras High Court judge Justice PN Prakash said on Friday..Justice Prakash was speaking on topic Reforming India's Criminal Justice System as part of a panel discussion hosted by the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy."Public Prosecutor is another bane of our system. They are political appointees and their juniors appear against them to support their case. The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) does not address this," the former judge said..Interestingly, the former judge was recently appointed as Special Public Prosecutor to handle matters on behalf of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) before the Supreme Court of India. The appointment was later withdrawn on the basis of a technicality..During the discussion, Justice Prakash highlighted that he was able to reduce 'Romeo Juliet' cases by coordinating with the police higher-ups directly."Another bane of our system is rank perjury at all levels. Until it is addressed, reforms are meaningless. Filing of civil suits to get people caught in litigation is also a bane. Then (in Tamil Nadu) the migrant workers from Bengal and Odisha face language issues in criminal cases, so we engaged Bengali associations etc to help," he added..The ex-judge also spoke about the low prison population in Tamil Nadu to state that India is essentially a fairly good country with law abiding citizens.He, however, also referred to criminal cases arising out of civil disputes."Inability of civil courts to quickly solve landlord, property disputes adds to criminal cases. All Magistrates flooded with (Section) 138 (Negotiable Instrument Act) cases," he said, while referring to cheque-bounce cases..National Law University, Delhi Vice-Chancellor Prof GS Bajpai, former Himachal Pradesh Director General of Police (DGP) Somesh Goyal and criminal justice expert Seema Joshi were also part of the panel.Prof Bajpai said that the ideology of the criminal justice in India is very confusing, and that criminal law by its nature cannot be just because it deals with criminals."Torture and high-handedness etc is part of police culture here, not a feature of the criminal justice system," he added..[Read our live-coverage]
