Capital Punishment: Mitigating Factors in Light of The Biopsychosocial Model

- This blog has been authored by Anmol Yadav. The author is 3rd year student of B.A. L.LB. (Hons.) at Faculty of Law, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi.  In the complex discourse surrounding capital punishment, the consideration of mitigating factors becomes paramount, particularly when viewed through the lens of the Biopsychosocial Model. This interdisciplinary framework, encompassing biological, …

Unconstitutionality of Premature Release: Examining the Abuse of Remission Policies

-Shruti Mishra Introduction Premature release entails a prisoner’s release before the completion of his judicially ordained sentence. States may grant premature release to convicts owing to several factors, as laid down in the case of Bir Singh v. State of Himachal Pradesh, which includes good conduct by the prisoner, no commission of jail offence, prisoner’s …

The 283rd Law Commission Report – Better If Not Implemented

- Vedant Choudhary The Law Commission of India in its 283rd report, titled, ‘Age of Consent under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012’ has recommended against amending the age of consent under the POCSO Act. This negative recommendation comes in light of growing cases of romantic relationships between minors, where de facto …

On POCSO and the Need for a Balancing Act to Navigate the Quandary Posed by Consensual Adolescent Relationships

~By Vasundhara Mehta Introduction  Recently, during my time at the chambers of the Hon’ble Mr Justice S. Ravindra Bhat, Judge, Supreme Court of India, I encountered the quagmire posed by consensual adolescent relationships in India. Almost every day at the Apex Court, I would hear the advocates state that the ‘victim’, a minor girl has …

The Conundrum of Women being Prosecuted for Gangrape

- Rushil Batra On 13.02.2023, a single judge bench of the Allahabad HC gave a rather interesting judgment in the case of Suneeta Pandey v State of UP wherein it held that women can be prosecuted for the offence of gang rape under Section 376D of the IPC. This conclusion is interesting since generally rape as an offence is seen …

Justice in Courts of Inquisition? The Delhi High Court on UAPA Remand Extensions

A person should not be condemned without knowing why. One would think that this precept is not a point of debate in the legal system of a constitutional, democratic, republic. After all what personifies the shift from a culture of impunity and subservience to one of justification than the ability of individual citizens to ask …

EXECUTION OF DEATH SENTENCE AFTER TREATING MENTAL ILLNESS

-Madhav Aggarwal INTRODUCTION The Supreme Court in its recent judgement in the case of Manoj v. State of MP laid down guidelines to be adhered to in cases pertaining to offences that can lead to a death sentence. It held that for sentencing, the jail authorities must produce a contemporaneous psychological and psychiatric report of …

A Not So ‘Fair’ & Lovely Criminal System

-Sofia Dash & Ahan Gadkari Introduction The recent Criminal Procedure (Identification) Act, 2022 (“CP Act”) has spurred nationwide debates amongst human rights activists and the government officials. The CP Act, which aimed at replacing the archaic Identification of Prisoners Act, 1920,permits law enforcement officers to collect identifiable information of all convicts, arrested persons, and detainees, …

‘SHOWN ARREST’: A PRACTICE TO BE NIPPED IN THE BUD

-Sakshi Komal Dubey Arrests are so fundamental to how we view law enforcement; we frequently assess the effectiveness of the police by the number of arrests they make. The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (“Code”) does not define the term “Arrest”. Having no standard definition, however, it can be defined as, when an officer takes …

MISTAKE OF LAW DEFENSE: A TOOL FOR SAVING INNOCENTS FROM INCARCERATION

-Srinjoy Debnath INTRODUCTION             For an act to be criminal, a person should not only commit an offense but should also have mens rea or guilty mind; but what happens when someone commits an illegal act but did not have the knowledge that it was criminal or illegal? The maxim Ignorantia Juris Non Excusat which …

Judicial Quandary on ‘Police Officers’ Under Section 25 IEA and Special Statutes

-Aarushi Jain Recently, the apex court in Tofan singh v. State of Tamil Nadu held that the horizons of Section 25 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 (hereinafter 'IEA') extend to the statements recorded under Section 67 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (hereinafter 'NDPS Act'). The definition of 'police officer' under …

Procedure in the Trial of Counter/Cross cases

-Nehaol Sri L V Two criminal cases with conflicting versions arising out of the same incident are called as counter or cross-cases[2]  These cases represent opposing views of the same incident happening at the same time and space, and are usually seen at the level of trial courts. There is no standard definition or procedure …

A Cross-Country Caper and Constitutional Criminal Procedure

-Abhinav Sekhri "He was a humble man who shunned publicity and lived a quiet life. He was born in Cologne, Germany ... [and] came to America as an immigrant with a middle school education. ... He bought his first building in Los Angeles when he was 21, an endeavour that bloomed into a real estate …

Interpreting Sanction for Prosecution under UAPA in the light of GN Saibaba verdict

-Devvrat Singh and Nishita Gupta Introduction The Supreme Court recently stayed an order of the Bombay High Court discharging Professor G.N. Saibaba in an alleged Maoist links case under the UAPA (Unlawful Activities Prevention Act). The effect of the order was that professor Saibaba who happens to be wheelchair bound and suffering from 90% disability …

The Mens Rea of Fraud: Lessons from the Great White North

-By Shreyas Sinha Introduction The Latin term ‘mens rea’ refers to the mental element of a criminal act, i.e., a legally-determined state of mind required to convict an individual of a criminal offence. A person can be said to possess the requisite mens rea vis-à-vis a criminal offence when – (1) they are aware that …

Preserving the silence: Different spheres of Section 313 CrPC and Article 20(3) of the Indian Constitution

~By Pragun Goyal Introduction Section 313 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (“CrPC”) has a profane silhouette around it. After the prosecution has closed its evidence, the accused is given an opportunity to explain the incriminating matter in evidence against him or her. No matter how bleak or scanty the prosecution evidence is, the court has to provide an opportunity …

Virendra Khanna v State of Karnataka –Passwords and the Dilution of the Right Against Self-Incrimination

-By Kashish Khandelwal In Riley v California, while holding that an accused cannot be forced by the police to reveal their password, the US Supreme Court observed that owing to the rapid development of technology, the majority of the people “typically carry a cache of sensitive personal information” in their pockets. However, this has also …

Preservation of Evidence: Need of our Criminal Justice System

-By Mujeeb Ur Rehman “A person is innocent until proven guilty” This is one of the most sacred principles of the criminal justice system, regardless of jurisdiction of which it belongs to; and in order to prove any person guilty, evidence against him/her is a mandatory requirement. Here the criminal justice system fails to believe …