The Hindu Business Line : Deterrent punishments

Strangely enough, all the cogitations regarding police and judicial reforms in various forums have overlooked penal reforms, an important part of the criminal justice system, meant to ensure that punishment fits the crime, and is severe enough to deter potential law breakers. The Government, Law Commission, criminologists or civil society activists have all given them the go-by. They have not also been the subject of any public interest litigation, nor of incidental or sub stantive judicial pronouncements.

The result is that punishments provided for offences enumerated in the Indian Penal Code (IPC), reflecting the constricted economic, social and technological setting of the mid-19th century, have remained unchanged since the year (1860) of its enactment.

Untouchability, dowry deaths or domestic violence were not the issues then. Corporate malfeasance, white-collar crimes, rampant political skullduggery, electoral malpractices, corruption, depredations in cyberspace, terrorism, money laundering, drugs and black money and tax evasion are but a few of the vile and vicious manifestations of societal and human degradation after Independence

A variety of laws have been passed seeking to make good the omissions, but the people are finding the atmosphere on the ground more and more suffocating. Scoundrels of every description literally get away with murder because of four reasons: The entry of criminals into legislatures and even into Cabinets; the utter contempt of the political class for norms and values; egregious delays in rendering justice with the accused exploiting every loophole of the law and procedure relating to appeals, adjournments, burden of proof, benefit of doubt and the like, and the politicisation of almost all institutions, especially, those at the core of governance, such as bureaucracy, police and the judiciary.

Compounding all this is the low scale of punishments provided under the laws, and the lenient approach of courts in awarding only a small proportion of even these meagre punishments.

Ruthlessness and sternness

Contrast this with the US which is a much more responsive democracy than India and whose respect for civil rights and rule of law is beyond cavil. Punishments there run to 20-30 years for crimes which are awarded 2-3 years, if that, in India. Under the US legal system, once the jury comes to a finding, there is no further appeal on facts, and the person sentenced is marched to the jail and locked up. The average duration of a trial is around a year, and sometimes even less.

Ruthlessness in investigation and prosecution and sternness in awarding deterrent punishment have been the hallmarks of the US law enforcement. Vastly contributing to this salutary consummation are the Sentencing Guidelines enacted by the US Congress in 1991 as per the recommendation of the Sentencing Commission, a standing body set up in 1984 to enforce uniformity in the sentencing of offenders and to ensure that sentences match the ‘offence level’ (conduct prior to, during and after, the commission of the offence, and the criminal history category.

An elaborate Sentencing Table has been drawn up for the Courts to follow giving the sentencing ranges based on the ‘points’ assigned to the above two factors, taking account of the degree of premeditation and planning in committing the crime, the nature of the weapon, if any, used, the age and vulnerability of the victims, the amount of loss to victims and so on. In India too, it is high time the Law Commission took up the question of revising the punishments under the various laws and prepare a sentencing guidelines manual as has been done in the US.

B. S. RAGHAVAN

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