CRIMINOLOGY Notes. includes penology also

2Introduction
The word ‘criminology’ is derived from the Latin word “CRIMEN” which means accusation
and LOGIA means a study of a particular concept or subject. Thus, it can be said that
criminology refers to the scientific study of crime and criminal behavior. Moreover, it is also
a study of the causes of crimes based on a sociological viewpoint. Criminology is a subject
which takes into consideration the harsh reality of crime and the psychology of a criminal
linked with the sociological view. Criminology is of two types- Criminal Biology and Criminal
Sociology.
Criminal Justice And Criminology
Criminal justice deals with the scope and nature of particular crimes and a series of
institutions, agencies are involved to ensure the effective functioning of the justice delivery
system. The laws are already in place and legalized focus is much on its fair application and
implementation. In short, it consists of the identification of criminals, apprehension,
judgment and punishment. Police authorities, courts, and forensic departments are some of
the organs of the criminal justice system. Thus, it can be said that criminology is the study
of criminal theories, the criminal justice system and law enforcement agencies that existed
at that time.
The enforcement agencies are wide and elongated which derives their authority from the
subject matter of criminology, which provides the knowledge of crime’s root causes. In the
criminal justice system focus is on “who committed a crime?” and “how”, whereas, in
criminology question of “why?” arises i.e., why someone would lead to violating the law.
However, criminology refers to the study of crime. It focuses much on the reasoning and
logic behind the crime and its impact on society at large. A study of criminal behavior and
criminal psychology are collectively called as “criminology”.
Thus, criminology is defined as-
Study of crime and criminal behavior informed by principles of sociology and other non-legal
fields, including psychology, economics, statistics and anthropology. Criminology studies
social action data and combines it with criminal activity in order to determine a motive and
criminal consequences.
History of Criminology
Paul Topinard during a study used the word “criminology” for the first time in 1889. It was
in the eighteenth century where that two scholars like Cesare Beccaria in Italy, who is also
known as the Father of Criminology and Jeremy Bentham in England, who also contributed
to the criminal justice system. Later, in the nineteenth century, scholars and thinkers
started to find the reasons for criminal acts committed by an individual along with his
society in the study of criminology. It means the study of criminology started giving space
to the empirical method in its sphere and ambit.
Further, Bentham put more emphasis on crime rather than on crime. According to him, the
consequences of crime are more important rather than the motivation for the crime. If we
compare his theory to modern principles of criminology mens rea is of less significance.
Eminent scholars like Plato, Aristotle, Bentham, and Voltaire focused more on social reforms
in legal and political institutions so that a naturalistic vision of criminal law can be achieved.
The social contract theory gained prominence during this time as it dealt with the meeting
of social minds i.e., living together in society as per the contract made with the state. Here
the state is conferred with the power of lying down moral and political norms or rules of
behavior in order to comply with fundamental social rules, laws and principles of society.
Thus, we can say that criminology founds its origin in the basics of social contract theory
also.
Schools of Criminology
Pre-Classical School
Pre-classical school is the most ancient school of thought in the field of criminology. During
that period religion had the upper hand in ruling Europe. Saint Thomas Acquinas was a
thinker of this school who by the means of theology and philosophy gave divine connotation

to the theory of crime. He had given an important spiritual explanation of crime and its
punishment. He focused more on the causes of crime rather than the consequences. For
example, a thief commits theft due to misery and not evil intentions. According to him crime
not only harmed victims but also criminals as impacted the Rationality and sensitiveness of
a person.
Aquinas views humans as rational animals and according to him, crime loses the rationality
of a person.
Therefore, it can be said that pre-classical school is based more on the teachings of saint
Thomas Aquinas. As mentioned earlier Europe was dominated by religious ideas during this
period. Scientific temperament was absent there, so belief in philosophical understanding
had gained importance. Belief in some external power was there rather than inner
conscience. It was believed that man doesn’t commit crime due to his or her free will but
due to the influence of some external powerThat devil force deviates a man from doing a
righteous thing. Due to this man becomes reckless and loses moral values. According to this
school fear of God starts removing as soon as an individual gets attracted towards the world
of demons. Here, God acts as a check on individual activities in order to keep him away
from the satanic world

Why has Pre-Classical School Known As Demonological School?
As mentioned earlier pre-classical school was more based omnipotence of God which they
considered a sovereign power. Further during the 17
th
century religious and spiritual
conceptions started gaining attention which had given scope for the advancement of the
demonological school.
Nature Of Punishments During Pre -Classical School
During the pre-classical school nature of punishments was severe such as whipping, ordeal
by hot water, burning, ordeal by hot oil, etc. the main aim behind the infliction of such harsh
punishment was to stop an individual from following a path of demons and to urge an
individual to follow a path of the divine. The offender was exposed to cruel treatment in
order to avoid the repetition of offenses. Though this approach was unscientific and
inhuman it was accepted in that period. They were keen on the principles in which they
believed i.e the sovereign authority of God.
Classical School
The thinkers in the eighteenth century had developed this school of thought on Criminology.
As previously there were severe punishments like amputation of organs, capital and others
involving the intent of hurting the wrongdoer bodily, which were said to be harsh and don’t
reduce the rate of crime. As the crimes were considered as ‘sin’ and they are said to be the
act of Demon and Devils and they were known as the ‘Demonological theory of criminality’.
Thus, the thinkers of this school improved the system of bodily punishments to the
punishment for the soul by deterring the wrongdoer in prison This school is developed by
two notable Thinkers, they are Cesare Beccaria and Jeremy Bentham.
Neo-Classical School
After the emergence of the classical school, the neo-classical school gained prominence as it
was realized that the classical school is more confined to a historical and literature-based
approach. Further, it explains crime as a free will choice of a person i.e., criminals make a
rational choice regarding the commission of a crime. Behind the commission of any criminal
act, they supported the maximum pain and minimum pleasure principle. Even they
supported severe punishment in order to inflict pain and torture and to create fear in the
minds of people.
However, neo-classical schools focus more on scientific study by recognizing the mental
aspects of an offender. According to neo classical school of thought, psychology plays an
important role in the commission of a crime. They supported the individualization of
offender-like circumstances under which the person has committed the crime. People
lacking a normal level of intelligence or some mental incapacities are irresponsible in their

conduct as they do not have the such understanding to differentiate between criminal and
non-criminal acts.
Further, they added that factors such as the personality of an individual, previous life
history, character, and social and economic background should be taken into consideration
in assessing the guilt of the accused. It is the neo-classical school of thought only which
provided a pathway toward the origin of the jury system in criminal jurisprudence.
Punishments Offered Under Neo -Classical School
Neo-Classical Scholars differentiate in the case of punishment inflicted on an individual
based on a psychological understanding of a person. It takes into consideration the mental
state of a person while committing a crime. Thus, they justified the mitigation of equal
punishment in cases of certain psychopathic offenders. Commenting on this point, GILLIN
observed that “neo-classists represent a reaction against the severity of classical view of
equal punishment for the same offence.”
Positivists School
The Positivist schools attempted to define scientific principles for the measurement and
qualification of criminal behavior. Science is the core aspect of this school which negates the
logical and divine concepts unlike the pre-classical school of thought. It deals with the major
aspect of scientific Socialism. Thus, it is divided into-
1. Biological positivism
Biological positivism had taken into consideration the elements like physical features and it
also produces the study on physiognomy which linked attributes of the mind to frame the
brain as revealed through the skull. It put emphasis on the fact that the real cause of
criminality lay in the anthropological features of criminals. In short, it focuses on the
anthropological and biological aspects of the offender toward the commission of a crime.
This school tries to establish a symbiotic relationship between criminality and the structure
and functioning of the brain. The main exponents of this school were three eminent Italian
criminologists namely: Ceasare Lombroso, Raffalele Garafalo, and Enrico Ferr
Therefore, this school is also known as the Itlalian School Of Criminology.
2. Psychological Positivism
If Biological Positivism Takes into consideration the physical aspects of crime, psychological
positivism considers the mental aspect of crime. It looks at determinations, thoughts,
reactions and emotional intelligence in criminal behavior. He was Sigmund Freud who
established the psychoanalytical model in which he discussed the three sets of interacting
forces like ID, EGO and SUPEREGO. These are the three elements in a human personality
that urge them to behave in a certain manner.
3. Social Positivism
Social positivism considers the impact of crime on society as a whole. It’s another name for
the scientific study of society or the social world. He was August Compte who developed a
positivist approach to the positivist school of thought. It deals with the fact that society is
like a physical world and functions based on a general set of laws.
Thus, it can be said that the positive school of thought focuses on the sociological definition
in terms of the biological determination of crime. Instead of infliction of punishment upon
offenders this school suggests treatment methods dealing with the fact that criminals be
punished not according to the gravity of their crime but according to the circumstances
concerned with it.
Conclusion
It may be concluded that schools of criminology are the principles or code of conduct for
Jurisprudence which deals with a socio-legal study which seeks to discover the causes of
criminality and recommends remedies to reduce crime. These schools of criminology are the
base for effective guidelines for the formation of criminal regulations and penal policy.

What Is Criminology?
The term criminology is derived from the combination of two words – crimen, which
means crime and logia, which means study. Thus, it refers to the scientific study of the
nature, extent, causes, and control of criminal behaviour. It is the scientific study of the
causes of crime and suggests appropriate remedies.
What Are the Schools of Criminology?
In the different stages of time, various criminologists gave their perspectives on the
meaning of crime, criminals, and causes of crime, and there is a variation in the opinions of
every criminologist. This variation further led to formulations of different criminal behaviour.
As a result, the scientific explanation of criminal behaviour is stated in the form of different
theories, known as schools of criminology.
1. Pre-classical School
Jeremy Bentham is considered the founder of the pre-classical school. This school, also
known as the Demonological school , existed during the 17th and 18th centuries. During
this time, religion was at its peak level. Worshipping and sacrifices were usually the
prescribed method in pre-classical school.
There was no existence of scientific explanations
There was a belief that there existed another part of the world that is full of evil powers,
and every individual is controlled by the supreme power of that world. Therefore, the people
are influenced by those evil powers, due to which the person loses their sense of morality
and then commits crimes
This school believed that an individual is not in a position to differentiate between what is
right and what is wrong because when the person commits a crime, the sense of
understanding is influence d by evil powers.
The treatment suggested in this school was of giving extreme torture to the person who
committed the crime
Later this school was criticised on the basis of punishment provided under this school.
2. Classical School
This school was propounded in the 18th century. The supporter of classical school
was Cesare Beccaria. It rejected the theory of pre-classical school.
Classical school was based upon the free will concept and determinism, that the person
commits the crime out of pleasure and pain.
It is believed that punishment should be directly proportional to the intensity of crime.
This school completely focused on crime.
Classical school ignored the difference between the first offender and habitual offender,
which later became the reason for its criticism.

3. Neo-classical School
Neo-classical school is developed from the classical school of criminology. It is also known
as the upgraded version of the classical school. Neo-classical school is supported by Prof.
Gillin.
It focused on understanding the facts and circumstances of the case and the mental state of
the offender. It divided criminals into different categories such as first offender,
habitual offender, minor, insane, idiot, etc
According to neo-classical school, punishment should be given as per the category of the
offender, which means the mental capacity of an individual.
Neo-classical school was later criticised because it specifically focused on providing
punishment to the offender and did not focus on the reformation of an offender.
4. Positivist School
Positivist school was founded in the 19th century. This school is also known as Italian
school. It rejected the free will theory of the classical school. The three main exponents of
this school were:
 Cesare Lombroso
 Enrico Ferri
 Raffaele Garofalo
Lombroso’s Theory
A person who commits a crime is a born criminal. The theory focused on the biological
characteristics of the commission of a crime. It is also believed that criminals are less
sensitive. According to this school, the criminals were divided into three categories:
 Born criminal: The criminals in whom the criminal behaviour is genetically
transferred.
 Insane criminal: The criminal who is of unsound mind and mind is not in a position
to understand the circumstances of the act; that what is wrong or right.
 Criminoids: The criminals that have more of an inferiority complex of biological
structure.
Enrico Ferri’s Theory
This theory challenged Lomboroso’s theory. According to Enrico Ferri’s theory, emotional,
social and geographical factors are also responsible. Enrico Ferri divided the criminals into
five categories:
 Born criminal
 Occasional criminal: The criminals who occasionally commit the crime due to
circumstances.
 Passionate criminal: The criminals who commit crimes out of their passion.
 Insane criminal
 Habitual criminal: The criminals who are habitual of committing crimes.
Garofalo’s Theory
This theory rejected the above two theories. Garofalo’s theory divided the criminals into four
categories:

 Endemic criminals: The criminals who commit murder.
 Violent criminals: They are those criminals who immediately get influenced by
others and commit the crime. They are of violent nature (short-tempered).
 Criminals lacking in sentiment of probity: The criminals who lack emotional
feelings.
 Lustful criminals: The criminals who commit rape.
Conclusion
It can be said that all these four schools were developed from the circumstances or
situations that were prevailing in that era and thus developed such sentencing procedures
which suited their time.
The main aim of all the above schools was to protect society by preventing crime. For this,
few schools opted lighter forms of punishment, whereas few opted for a severe form of
punishment.
Definition of Schools of Criminology
Schools of criminology are different theoretical perspectives or approaches that seek to understand the
causes, dynamics, and patterns of crime and criminal behaviour. These schools of criminology offer varying
explanations and solutions for understanding and addressing crime, based on their unique perspectives
and assumptions.
Pre-Classical School
The Pre-Classical School of Criminology is rooted in ancient Indian texts and scriptures that contain
principles of justice and punishment. This school focuses on the concept of dharma, which refers to the
moral and ethical duties of individuals towards society, and the idea of karma, which highlights the belief
in the consequences of one’s actions.
This is one of the schools of criminology that emphasises the role of religion, customs, and traditions in
shaping the social control mechanisms and maintaining law and order in society.
Key Concepts
Dharma: The concept of dharma is central to the Pre-Classical School of criminology. It refers to the moral
and ethical duties that individuals have towards society and highlights the importance of adhering to social
norms and customs.
Karma: The concept of karma emphasises the belief in the consequences of one’s actions, both in the
present life and in future lives. It underscores the idea of accountability and the notion that individuals are
responsible for their actions and their consequences.
Classical School of Criminology
The classical school of criminology is one of the oldest and most influential schools of thought in the field
of criminology. It emerged during the Enlightenment period in the 18th century and is based on the idea
that individuals are rational beings who make choices based on their self-interests.
According to the classical school, crime is seen as a result of individuals’ free will and rational decision-
making, and it can be deterred through the fear of punishment.
Key Concepts
Rationality: The classical school believes that individuals are rational beings who make choices based on
their self-interests. They weigh the benefits and costs of committing a crime before making a decision.
Hedonism: The classical school assumes that individuals are motivated by the pursuit of pleasure and the
avoidance of pain. Therefore, they commit crimes when they perceive the benefits of the crime to outweigh
the costs.

Punishment: The classical school emphasises the importance of punishment as a deterrent to crime. It
argues that the certainty, severity, and swiftness of punishment can deter individuals from committing
crimes.
Relevant Provisions
Indian Penal Code (IPC): The IPC, which is the main criminal law statute in India, reflects the classical
school’s principles of deterrence through punishment. It prescribes specific punishments for various crimes,
with the aim of deterring individuals from committing those crimes.
Contribution
The classical school of criminology has influenced the development of criminal law and the criminal justice
system in India. The principles of deterrence through punishment are reflected in the Indian Penal Code,
which serves as the basis for the criminal justice system in the country.
Neo-Classical School
The Neo-Classical School of Criminology seeks to integrate the concepts of free will and determinism,
acknowledging that while individuals have the capacity for free will, they are also influenced by various
factors beyond their control. The Neo-Classical School emphasises the need for a balanced and holistic
approach to understanding crime and criminal behaviour, taking into consideration both individual agency
and social context.
Key Concepts
Integrative Approach: The Neo-Classical School advocates for an integrative approach that combines the
concepts of free will and determinism. It acknowledges that individuals have the capacity for free will, but
they are also influenced by various biological, psychological, and social factors that may limit their choices.
Mitigating Circumstances: The Neo-Classical School recognises the importance of considering mitigating
circumstances, such as mental capacity, duress, provocation, and other factors that may affect an individual’s
culpability for a crime.
Relevant Provisions
The Neo-Classical School has influenced the development of sentencing guidelines in some jurisdictions,
which take into consideration both the severity of the offence and the individual circumstances of the
offender, such as their criminal history, motivation, and potential for rehabilitation.
Contribution
The Neo-Classical School of Criminology has contributed to the recognition of the complex interplay
between individual agency and social context in shaping criminal behaviour. It promotes a balanced and
holistic approach that considers both free will and determinism, and advocates for the consideration of
mitigating circumstances in the criminal justice system.
However, the Neo-Classical School has also been criticised for its potential for subjectivity and inconsistency
in determining mitigating circumstances and evaluating an individual’s culpability for a crime.
Positivist School of Criminology
The positivist school of criminology emerged in the 19th century as a response to the limitations of the
classical school’s rational choice theory. The positivist school argues that individuals are not always rational
and that various factors, such as biological, psychological, and social factors, can influence their behaviour,
including criminal behaviour.
According to the positivist school, crime is a result of internal and external factors, and it can be better
understood and managed through scientific methods.
Key Concepts
Determinism: The positivist school rejects the idea of free will and argues that individual’s behaviour,
including criminal behaviour, is determined by various factors, such as their biological makeup,
psychological traits, and social environment.

Scientific Methods: The positivist school advocates for the use of scientific methods, such as empirical
research and data analysis, to study crime and criminal behaviour. It emphasises the importance of
evidence-based approaches in understanding and managing crime.
Rehabilitation: The positivist school believes that individuals who engage in criminal behaviour can be
rehabilitated through treatment and intervention programs. It focuses on addressing the underlying causes
of criminal behaviour rather than punishing offenders.
Relevant Provisions
Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015: This legislation, which deals with juvenile
offenders, reflects the positivist school’s emphasis on rehabilitation and reformation rather than
punishment. It provides for various measures, such as counselling, education, and vocational training, for
the rehabilitation of juvenile offenders.
Contribution
The positivist school of criminology has contributed to the understanding of crime and criminal behaviour
in India by highlighting the importance of scientific methods and evidence-based approaches. It has
influenced the development of policies and programs aimed at rehabilitating offenders and addressing the
underlying causes of crime, particularly in the context of juvenile justice.
Sociological School of Criminology
The sociological school of criminology focuses on the social and structural factors that contribute to crime
and criminal behaviour. It examines how social institutions, such as family, education, and the economy,
influence individuals’ behaviour and their likelihood of engaging in criminal activities.
The sociological school argues that crime is a result of social inequalities, social disorganisation, and the
breakdown of social bonds.
Key Concepts
Social Structure: The sociological school emphasises the role of social structure, including social class,
poverty, and inequality, in shaping individuals’ behaviour and their propensity to commit crimes. It
highlights how social inequalities and structural factors can contribute to crime and criminal behaviour.
Social Disorganisation: The sociological school examines how the breakdown of social institutions and
social disorganisation in communities can contribute to crime. It focuses on how factors such as
neighbourhood characteristics, community cohesion, and social control can influence crime rates.
Social Bonds: The sociological school emphasises the importance of social bonds, such as family, school,
and community, in preventing crime. It argues that individuals with strong social bonds are less likely to
engage in criminal activities.
Relevant Provisions
Prevention of Atrocities (Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes) Act, 1989: This legislation, which is aimed
at protecting marginalised communities from discrimination and violence, reflects the sociological school’s
emphasis on addressing social inequalities and structural factors that contribute to crime. It provides for
special provisions for the prevention and punishment of offences against individuals belonging to
Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
Contribution
The sociological school of criminology has contributed to the understanding of crime and criminal
behaviour in India by highlighting the role of social structure and social factors in shaping individuals’
behaviour. It has influenced the development of policies and programs aimed at addressing social
inequalities, promoting social cohesion, and preventing crime.
Psychological School of Criminology
The psychological school of criminology focuses on the psychological factors that contribute to crime and
criminal behaviour. It examines how individual traits, personality disorders, and mental health issues can
influence individuals’ behaviour and their likelihood of engaging in criminal activities. The psychological

school argues that crime is a result of psychological factors, such as personality disorders, cognitive
processes, and emotional disturbances.
Key Concepts
Individual Traits: The psychological school emphasises the role of individual traits, such as impulsivity,
sensation-seeking, and empathy, in shaping individuals’ behaviour and their propensity to commit crimes.
It highlights how personality characteristics can influence criminal behaviour.
Cognitive Processes: The psychological school examines how cognitive processes, such as decision-
making, moral reasoning, and problem-solving, can influence individuals’ behaviour and their likelihood of
engaging in criminal activities. It focuses on how cognitive factors can affect the way individuals perceive
and respond to the social environment.
Mental Health Issues: The psychological school recognises the role of mental health issues, such as
personality disorders, substance abuse, and psychopathy, in contributing to criminal behaviour. It
highlights how mental health issues can affect individuals’ behaviour and decision-making processes.
Relevant Provisions
Mental Healthcare Act, 2017: This legislation, which is aimed at protecting the rights of individuals with
mental illness, reflects the psychological school’s emphasis on addressing mental health issues in the
context of crime and criminal justice.
It provides for the rights and care of individuals with mental illness, including provisions for their treatment,
rehabilitation, and protection from abuse and discrimination. It also recognises the importance of mental
health assessments and interventions in the criminal justice system.
Unit II
Introduction
“The practitioners of evil, hoarders, the profiteers, the black marketeers, and speculators are
the worst enemy of our society. They have to be dealt with sternly. However well placed
important and influential they maybe, if we acquiesce in wrongdoing, people will lose faith in
us.” -Dr. S. Radhakrishnan
The most influential criminologist of the 20th century and also a sociologist, Edwin Hardin
Sutherland, for the first time in 1939, defined white collar crimes as “crimes committed by
people who enjoy the high social status, great repute, and respectability in their occupation”.
The five attributes of the given definition are:
 It is a crime.
 That is committed by an important person of the company.
 Who enjoys a high social status in the company.
 And has committed it in the course of his profession or occupation.
 There may be a violation of trust.
These crimes are quite rampant in third world countries due to the economy, for instance,
the ease of doing business has taken a jump of almost 37 positions in the last two years
(2018-2020) in India which allows more investment and businesses to flow into the country
but exposes consumers and their rights and this has led to the rapid increase of cases over
80% just in 2019. Edwin Sutherland stated that white crime could harm society more than
other normal offences mainly because of the financial losses that the public would incur in
fact, white-collar crimes can be traced back to the 15th century in the UK and later also in
the US during the civil war which allowed large monopolies to take over which led to the
enforcement of Anti-trust laws to protect the consumers and allow fair competition. With the
world moving at a fast pace and the rate of development in technology and commerce it’s
fair to say that India is unable to deal with the increasing level of unprecedented growth
which is leading to white-collar crimes such as cybercrimes. This also means that crime can
be committed across any country’s border. Due to the ease of committing these crimes,
fraudsters have also become greedier and has also resulted in the lower average age of

these fraudsters and due to their ease of accessing and optimising technology the number
of white-collar crimes is increasing and it also points out that the future of our country is
turning towards the dark side.
Related to the corporate sector, white collar crimes are defined as non-violent crimes,
generally committed by businessmen and government professionals. In simple words,
crimes committed by people who acquire important positions in a company are called white
collar crimes.
White collar crime in India
Corruption, fraud, and bribery are some of the most common white collar crimes in India as
well as all over the world. The Business Standard on 22.11.2016 published a report titled ‘The
changing dynamics of white collar crime in India’ stating that in the last 10 years, the Central
Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has found a total of 6,533 cases of corruption out of which 517
cases were registered in the past two years.
Statistics showed that 4,000 crores worth of trading was carried out using fake or duplicate
PAN cards. Maharashtra showed a rapid increase in the number of online cases with 999 cases
being registered. The report also mentioned that around 3.2 million people suffered a loss
because of the stealing of their card details from the YES Bank ATMs which were administered
by Hitachi Payment Services.
Advancement in commerce and technology has invited unprecedented growth in one of the
types of white collar crimes, known as cybercrime. Cybercrimes are increasing because there
is only a little risk of being caught or apprehended. India’s rank on Transparency
International’s corruption perception index (CPI) has improved over the years.
In 2014, India was ranked 85th which subsequently improved to 76th position in 2015
because of several measures to tackle white collar crimes. In 2018, as per the report of The
Economic Times, India was placed at 78th position, showing an improvement of three points
from 2017, out of the list of 180 countries.
India is a developing country and white collar crimes are becoming a major cause for its under
development along with poverty, health, etc. The trend of white collar crimes in India poses
a threat to the economic development of the country. These crimes require immediate
intervention by the government by not only making strict laws but also ensuring its proper
implementation.
Reasons for the growth of white collar crimes in India
Greed, competition and lack of proper laws to prevent such crimes are the major reasons
behind the growth of white collar crimes in India.
Greed
The father of modern political philosophy, Machiavelli, strongly believed that men by nature
are greedy. He said that a man can sooner and easily forget the death of his father than the
loss of his inheritance. The same is true in the case of commission of white collar crimes. Why
will a man of high social status and importance, who is financially secure, commit such crimes
if not out of greed?
Easy, swift and prolong effect
The rapid growing technology, business, and political pressure has introduced the criminals
to newer ways of committing white collar crimes. Technology has also made it easier and
swifter to inflict harm or cause loss to the other person. Also, the cost of such crimes is much
more than other crimes like murder, robbery or burglary, and so the victim would take time
to recover from it. This would cut down the competition.

Competition
Herbert Spencer after reading ‘On the Origin of Species’ by Darwin, coined a phrase that
evolution means ‘survival of the fittest’. This implies that there will always be a competition
between the species, and the best person to adapt himself to the circumstances and conditions
should survive.
Lack of stringent laws
Since most of these crimes are facilitated by the internet and digital methods of transfer
payments, laws seem reluctant to pursue these cases as investigating and tracking becomes
a difficult and complicated job. Why it becomes difficult to track it is because they are usually
committed in the privacy of a home or office thereby providing no eyewitness for it.
Modern technology
With modern technology ease of business is one of its expectations, in a sense, it also
applies to white-collar crimes which have allowed them to reach out to a larger number of
people and commit large scale crimes without being noticed by the law. Many have fallen
victim to different scams such as the credit card scam, moreover, the pandemic opened up
a new market for them by exploiting the medical field and creating a black market for Covid
medications such as “Remdesivir” and over a hundred cases were lodged against the illegal
sales and use of this medicine and in most cases, the Doctors and Hospital staff were
involved. The need and greed of people have driven them to the extent of exploiting any
possible field. It doesn’t stop there the development in technology is so rapid that people
can acquire nuclear weapons with a click of a button, this was the case in Mumbai when
authorise seized two people acquiring 7kgs of natural uranium which is highly radioactive
and dangerous to human life. This makes us question the level of threat that these cartels
and organizations impose on the nation and the level of sophistication these crimes have
reached for the personal gains of their lives.
Lack of awareness
The nature of white collar crimes is different from the conventional nature of crimes. Most
people are not aware of it and fail to understand that they are the worst victims of
crime. People who are victims of these crimes fail to comprehend the notion of the crime and
understand the exact offence which has been committed and whom to approach or lodge a
complaint against because most of the time it involves a large corporation and there may be
little or no evidence to essentially produce a criminal and in certain crimes such as scam or
fraud people may not even realise that they have fallen victim to a crime such as a bank fraud
where yearly there are over thousand cases registered. And in a scam, such as a double-dip
scam the victim may fall prey again because the information of the victim is stored and passed
on to another scammer. Especially in metropolitan cities these cases are rising but we lack
the awareness to become victims of such crimes, a wider reach is required and awareness
campaigns by the government may help people understand the severity of these crimes and
the loopholes these criminals use and may help reduce the rate of white -collar crimes in
future.
Competition
We live in a fast pace world where only the fittest can survive and it has grown to such an
extent that crimes are committed for survival especially belonging to the lower socio-
economic classes their work environment is poorly designed and they are often underpaid
so in order to earn more and make a decent living their moral and ethnic values may be
compromised and just to move out of poverty or to make more gains their behaviour cannot

rationalised and is often out of greed that they have no limits. Criminal organizations and
cartels are also multiplying and advancing in their methods due to this competition.
Necessity
People also commit white collar crimes to meet their own needs and the needs of their family.
But the most important thing that the people of high social status want to feed their ego.
The reasons behind white collar criminals going unpunished are:
 Legislators and the people implementing the laws belong to the same class to which
these occupational criminals belong.
 The police put in less effort in the investigation as they find the process exhausting
and hard, and often these baffling searches fail to promise favourable results.
 Laws are such that it only favours occupational criminals.
 The judiciary has always been criticised for its delayed judgement. Sometimes it so
happens that by the time court delivers the judgement, the accused has already
expired. This makes criminals loose in committing crimes. While white collar crimes
are increasing at a faster rate, the judiciary must increase its pace of delivering
judgements.
Effects of white collar crime
 Effect on the company
White collar crimes causes huge loss to companies. In order to recover the loss, these
companies eventually raise the cost of their product which decreases the number of customers
for that product. This works according to the law of demand states that, other things being
equal, when the price of a commodity rises, it’s demand would fall and when the price lowers,
its demand would increase.
In short, the price of the commodity is inversely proportional to its demand. Since the
company is in loss, the salaries of the employees are lessened. Sometimes the company cut
down the jobs of several employees. The investors of that company and its employees finds
it difficult to repay their loans. Also, it becomes hard for people to obtain their credits.
For example, a US-based IT cognizant landed up paying 178 crore rupees to settle the charges
levied on it under the Foreign Corrupt Pra ctices Act by the Securities and Exchange
Commission. The company had bribed an Indian Government Official from Tamil Nadu to allow
the building of a 2.7 million square feet campus in Chennai. Apart from loss in paying 2 million
dollar bribery amount, the company also had to bear extra charges of 25 million dollars to
get free from the charges.
 Effect on the employees
White collar crimes endanger employees. They become conscious of their working conditions,
whether it is safe anymore or not. They start doubting if they are safe and that they can still
be given in their trust to the company.
 Effect on customers
The most important concern of the customers is whether the products which they are using
is safe or not. This doubt rise to see the rate at which white collar crimes have been increasing.

 Effect on society
White collar crimes are harmful to the society for those people who should be cited as a moral
example and who must behave responsibly are one committing such crimes. The society thus
becomes polluted.
When the former director of Andhra Bank and the directors of a Gujarat based pharma
company, Sterling Biotech, were arrested for their involvement in 5000 crore fraud case. They
used to withdraw money from bank accounts of several benami companies. This was one big
scam which put the people in fear.
Common Types Of White Collar Crime In India:
1) Bank Fraud Fraud is a crime committed with an intention to deceive and gain undue advantage.
Bank Fraud is a fraud committed on the banks. It is committed by the fraudulent companies by
making fake representations. It is also related to the manipulation of the negotiable instruments
like cheque bouncing, securities, bank deposits etc. Bank fraud is concerned to the public at large
because there is a relation of trust between the banks and the public. It is the most common type
of white collar crime and also a corporate crime. It harms public as well as the government of the
country.

2) Bribery: Bribery is also a very common type of white collar crime. By bribery we means giving
money or some goods to the person at a high position in return of a favor. In simple words
bribery is when one man gives money to the other which is in authority. It is done for the
purpose of insisting him to do something or to prevent him from doing something. It is the most
common income of most of the public officials of our country.

3) Cybercrime: Cybercrime is the biggest cause leading to these type of crime in
India. It is the latest problem prevailing in the cyber world. Cybercrime is the crime
which is related to ‘computer networks’. With the rapid increase of advancement of
technology there is also a rapid increase in the crime related to the technology.
Cybercrime involves the persons who are expert in computer related technology. And
it is committed against the victim directly or indirectly to cause a harm to his
reputation or to harm in physical or mental way using internet, networks and other
technological sources.

Cybercrime threatens the nations as well as the person’s security and financial
status. Cybercrime can cause huge financial loss to the country. Not only the
financial loss but it can also threaten the privacy of a person. Disclosure of
confidential information can create privacy problems. Also cybercrime against women
is also rising. By the use of telecommunication networks, mobile phones cyber
stalking, sending obscene messages and pictures by criminals to women is also
increasing.
# Hacking,
# Child pornography,
# Copyright infringement,

4) Money Laundering: Money laundering is a crime in which the criminals disguise the
identity of the money. In this crime, criminals try to hide the original ownership of the
money and the place where they obtained that money by illegal means. Laundering is done
with the intention of making that money came from legal sources. In simple words money
laundering means to show the illegitimate money as legal money. For instance if a person
obtain money from black marketing, trafficking of illegal goods the money will be considered
‘dirty’ and he cannot deposit into the banks as it may seem suspicious if he directly deposit
money into the financial institutions because he had to create statements and records
stating that where the money came from. Money laundering involves three steps:

# Firstly, the owner of the money obtain the money from some illegal means and deposit
into the bank by some way.
# Then through multiple transactions the transfer of money is being done.
# Lastly, they return the money into banks to make it legitimate.
intention to conceal one’s actual taxable income and one’s original position to the
authorities. This concealment of income is done to reduce the tax liability in the eyes of
government. In simple words it means to hide the money obtained from the illegal means in
order to reduce one’s liability to pay tax and to show low income to the tax authorities. Tax
evasion has a negative impact on the social values as it demoralized honest tax payers and
they might also want to do tax evasion also it gives economy power in the hand of few
undeserving people.
The meaning of term “ Black Marketing” is an illegal transaction of distribution and
production of the goods and services, which are prohibited by law such as – drug trade,
prostitution, illegal currency transactions, human trafficking etc. The purpose behind these
transactions is generally to evade the tax levied by government of country. These kind of
transactions usually done through cash only so that they can hide from the eyes of
government. These kind of transactions also leads to money laundering. The people find this
way easy to earn more money within less time period. The “Black Market” can be identified
by four kinds of economy –
1. The illegal economy
The meaning of illegal economy means when the people indulged in such activities which are
related to production and distribution of the goods and services, prohibited by law to evade
the taxes and earn money through simpler way. The purpose behind to prohibit such
transaction is to protect the society against wrong but some people for their personal benefit
harm the society as a whole.
2. The unreported economy
These are the activities consists of those transactions which should be reported to the
government of country but actually are not so reported. These kind of transactions takes
places without the interference of the government of country so this is called as unreported
economy. The purpose behind these illegal transactions is also to evade the tax.
3. The unrecorded economy
This is in regards with the unrecorded income of people. According to the National income
and product account (account managed by government of nation to identify the income of
whole economy), some amount is to be expected as the income of economy must be recorded
in such account every year, but actually are not so recorded because of black marketing
through evading tax.
4. The informal economy
The informal economy includes that part of economy which is not taxed. This is called as
informal economy. I t doesn’t cover the benefits and authority as rights provided by the
government to the society in some transactions, such as – Property relationships, commercial
licensing, labour contracts, financial credit, Social security system etc.
Meaning of “Hoarding”
The term of meaning “Hoarding” is the purchase of large quantity of commodity with the
intention to sell it in future when it is understock or not available in the market at a higher

price. We can say this as a kind of monopoly over market, when people do not have any
option to purchase the same commodity with other buyer due to shortage of the same. This
way the concept of hoarding is somehow related to black market as this kind of transactions
are also prohibited by law. The same way as black marketing, people indulged in the hoarding
business to maximize their profit by the unfair means of business. This commodity is generally
a basic goods used in commerce by large number of people. The term hoarding is different
from cartelization as in cartelization there are number of suppliers or manufacturer who come
together and try to limit the supply of goods for some time so that at the event of shortage
of such commodity they all can monopoly over the market and maximize their profits through
raising the prices of the goods. On the other hand, in the process of Hoarding, there is
individual participant who try to capture the market but the hoardings can easily be converted
in to process of cartelization by come to an agreement by number of suppliers or sellers to
limit the supply of any particular commodity used by public at large.
What Is Hoarding?
Hoarding is the purchase and warehousing of large quantities of a commodity by a speculator with the
intent of benefiting from future price increases.
The term hoarding is most frequently applied to buying commodities, especially gold. However, hoarding
is sometimes used in other economic contexts. For example, political leaders might complain that
speculators are hoarding dollars during a currency crisis.
 Hoarding is the purchase of large quantities of a commodity by a speculator with the intent of
benefiting from future price increases.
 It is possible for hoarding to create a cycle of speculation, self-fulfilling prophecies, and inflation.
 Laws are often passed against certain types of hoarding to prevent tragedies and reduce
economic instability.
 In the long run, investing in stocks has outperformed hoarding commodities.
What is Black Marketing?
Black Marketing is an exchange of goods and services which takes place outside the reach of
government agencies. There is no clear definition of ‘Black Marketing’ given under any
statute in India but the Supreme Court has attempted to deal with this issue. In the case
of Rameshwar Lal Patwari v. State of Bihar
[1]
, Supreme Court has held that black marketing
has at its base a shortening of supplies because black market flourishes best when the
availability of commodities is rendered difficult. Hon’ble Court has further stated that it has
a definite tendency to disrupt supplies when scarcity exists or scarcity is created artificially
by hoarding to attain illegitimate profits. Indulging in black marketing is conduct which is
prejudicial to the maintenance of supplies.
The goods and services involved in these transactions may be illegal, meaning dealing in
those goods and services are prohibited by law, for example, prohibited drugs, prostitution,
counterfeit currency, trafficking in human etc. or there can be a transaction of legal
commodities and services in a prohibited manner. Black marketers involved in these
transactions are motivated to earn profits and evade tax. Due to the illegal nature of these
transactions they are generally done in cash. The impact of Black marketing on economy is
always negative and devastating because these activities are not recorded and taxes are not
paid.
We have seen one of the worst forms of Black marketing in India during the COVID -19
pandemic i.e., Black marketing of essential medicines and equipment. Organised criminal
groups have adjusted to the opportunities arising from the COVID-19 pandemic to exploit
the vulnerabilities and gaps existing in health and criminal justice systems.
[2]
Many cases of
Black marketing and selling of fake medicines have been reported during the pandemic.
False medical products raise serious concern for public health system as these products
cannot treat any disease instead it may cause serious health problems.

Food and Drug adulteration One of the major prevailing nature of white collar crime of which the current
Indian society is a victim is the act making adulterated foods and drugs to be sold to the general public
thereby causing large amount of damages to health. Based on the recent report that has been submitted
by the Ministry of Health of the Government of India it has been demonstrated that approximately 70% of
the food and other edible stuff are being adulterated in nature and has the potential of causing health
risks and damages to the general public.

Corruption As per the definition, Corruption means the prevalence of dishonest intention and illegal
behavior which are being exercised by individuals holding positions of authority, power and status. Some
of the recent scams and controversies relating to corruption that has been witnessed by the Indian
Society involve “2G Spectrum Tele-Communications, Adarsh Housing Society scam” that has put major
amount of negative impact on the Indian Society. Within the IPC,1860 the corruptive activities that are
being carried out by the Public Servants have been provided with specific sections and Sanctions.

FRAUD
Fraud is also called cheating. Fraud is committed by misrepresenting facts in order to gain something in return.Fraud
is done by misrepresenting facts through words and actions for financial gains. This action results in a financial
injury.
Mahesh answered to a classified ad for a rental unit. He visited with the alleged landlord, viewed the property, and
agreed to sign a lease to rent it. Joseph pre-paid the security deposit and the first month’s rent.When Mahesh
returned to the apartment the following week to pick up the key, he discovered that it was inhabited by someone
else. After some research, Mahesh discovered that the flat was not for rent at all, and that the man with whom he met
and provided the money was not the property owner. In this case of white-collar crime, a man pretended to be the
owner in order to defraud a potential tenant of money.
Organized crime
Introduction
A criminal wrong is considered to be graver than a civil wrong as it is considered as an act
against the whole society. Increasing crimes in any legal system are an example of a
chaotic and alarming situation for the country. Amidst all crimes, certain crimes are
performed repeatedly by certain criminals, to not take revenge but to gain profits. Such
instances fall under the scope of organised crimes. This article makes an attempt to identify
some of the most prominent forms of organised crimes in India, the legal framework
surrounding these crimes and the challenges faced by the State to curb these crimes.
Concept of organised crime
Organised crime means the commission of a crime at regular intervals in order to make
money or profits. Some examples could include human trafficking, money laundering,
smuggling, etc. Certain characteristics of organised crimes have been discussed hereafter to
get a better understanding of the concept.
Nature and characteristics of organised crime
Presence of mens rea and actus reus
The very first step in any crime is the intention. The presence of mens rea and actus reus
are the two imperative essentials to prove that a certain crime has been committed. The
former implies a guilty mind i.e. a person being mindful of his/her actions and knowing that
a successful attempt would result in a crime and the latter implies a physical activity or
omission by the person which gives effect to the crime. To know more about these two
elements, check out this article.

Commission of crime
To commit a crime (including organised crime), there are four stages that needs to be
fulfilled. First, there should be an intention to commit a crime. Secondly, there must be
some preparation to give effect to the crime. Third, there should be an attempt, i.e.,
presence of some action in pursuance of the crime being committed. Lastly, the attempt
should be accomplished for the commission of that crime.
Objective of earning profits
It is important to understand that the purpose of committing an organised crime is not to
take revenge or harm someone, rather it is a kind of illegal business or a way for people to
earn profits. However, the crime which is committed is incidental to such activity and
ultimately, there is some kind of physical and/or mental injury.
Regularity
Another important characteristic of an organised crime is that it is not a one-time event, but
rather on a regular basis, just as a business. It is because of this aspect of continuity that
the term is referred to as ‘organised’, since a structure has been created wherein similar
activities (crimes) are being conducted regularly to earn profits.
Types of organised crimes
There are various activities that may be termed as organised crimes. Though there cannot
be a definite list, some of the most common types of organised crimes in India have been
discussed below.
Money laundering
Money laundering is one of the most serious crimes which can severely affect any economy
in several aspects. This crime is specifically governed by the Prevention of Money
Laundering Act, 2002. It is a way by which illegal money earned from sources such as drug
trafficking, human trafficking, etc. are diverted to create an impression that such money
comes from a legitimate source. Many criminals are engaged in this profession where they
help people with an illegal income to convert it into a legitimate income.
Smuggling
Smuggling is another major economic offence in a form of organised crime. This is mostly
governed by the Customs Act, 1962. It is natural that the goods which are illegal in the
territory of India or heavily taxed are smuggled to continue their trade or maintain profits.
With a change in fiscal policy, the definition of smuggled goods vary but it is mostly items
such as contraband substances, valuable jewels, electronics, certain fabrics, etc. which are
smuggled in India. Due to the vast coastline, it becomes easy for people to smuggle goods.
Drug trafficking
Drug trafficking is another major crime that poses a threat to the younger population of
India, considering its drastic effects on physical and mental health. It is usually considered
that the most important reason for the high rate of drug trafficking is the geographical
condition of India. It is located between the Golden Triangle (Myanmar, Thailand, and Laos)
on the northeast and Golden Crescent (Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran) on the northwest-
both of which are the two largest sources of illicit drugs in Asia. Resultantly, this form of
organised crime has become more prevalent and significant in the country.

Contract killings and kidnapping
These are governed by the Indian Penal Code. Contract killings means murdering someone
for money on a contractual basis. This is usually prevalent among the highly influential and
public personalities who are being murdered by their enemies/competitors through some
other criminal for a ransom. Similarly, kidnapping incidents are also prevalent wherein
people pay a certain sum of money to get someone kidnapped or these criminals ask
someone for a ransom. Such crimes are performed by organised criminals who do such
tasks on a regular basis.
Juvenile delinquency refers to the antisocial or criminal activity of the child (below 16 years
of age for boys and 18 years for girls) which violates the law. In true context, that same
activity would have been a crime if it was committed by the adult.

Juvenile delinquency is a gateway to adult crime, since a large percentage of criminal
careers have their roots in childhood causing serious problems all over the world. Today, it
has become a topic of great concern and needs to be discussed at a serious note. The
complexity grows as we go into the statistical data of developed countries when compared
to the still developing ones. A total of 44284 crimes were committed by the juvenile
offenders during 1978 which showed an increase of 0.6% over 1977. It has been noted that
theft and robbery add to a major percentage of these crimes. Murder, rape, dacoity,
burglary, kidnapping are a few more that add to the rest of it. On the basis of the available
statistics, an inference can be drawn that these crimes are on the increasing path.
The term ‘juvenile’ has been defined in clause (h) of Section 2 of the Juvenile Justice Act,
1986. The term ‘delinquency’ has been defined in clause (e) of section 2 of the Juvenile
Justice Act, 1986.

CAUSES OF DELINQUENCY: -
The causes for juvenile crime are usually found at each level of the social structure,
including society as a whole, social institutions, social groups and organizations, and
interpersonal relations. Juveniles’ choice of delinquency are fostered by a wide range of
factors, the most important of which are described below.

Theoretical Causes:
Rational Choice:
As per the behavioral study done on delinquent children by the psychologists, it suggests
that the child does any delinquent act because his mind tells him to do it. In other words he
does this because he wants to do it. These kinds of acts provides immense satisfaction to
the offenders and so they see nothing wrong in it.
Social Disorganization:
As the joint family system is coming to an end a, new trend has evolved where in both the
parents are working and as a result children are left neglected and such isolation leads the
child’s involvement in wrongful acts.

Bad Company:
One of the major reasons as to why children are entering into the worlds of crime is
because of their bad company. Children who are in bad company knowingly or unknowingly
indulge in criminal activities. It is this Bad company which motivates them to commit crime.

Labeling:
This is the theory of our society. Generally when we see someone or hear someone’s
involvement in a crime, we actually label him as a criminal. For example, calling someone a
failure may push him towards doing wrongful acts . Such terminology becomes identification
marks of these individuals and they thus rarely make an attempt to come out of it.

External Causes
Atmosphere at home:
An individual may have certain problems within his home which may have led him to the
wrong society. Like treatment from step mothers, poverty, Effect of T.V or Internet or other
media. Such cases are mostly seen with children who do not have anyone to look after them
after they return from school or there is least or excess of discipline exercised on them by
the elders of the family.

Neighborhood:
Neighborhood is that part of the society which may affect the acts of an individual at large.
It marks an individual’s ability to deal with Delinquency. If one finds gamblers, quarrelling
couples, drunkards around him, then this is all that he would fall into and finally end up as a
criminal.
Guardian’s Behavior:
Guardian here refers to parents, grandparents, relatives, teachers and any other caretaker
that the child may come across in his daily life. The behavior of all of the above towards the
child should be ideal, at the same time they should understand the needs and problems of
the child to prevent him from indulging into crimes.

Juvenile Delinquency: It’s Legality
Juvenile Justice Act, 1986, was the first central legislation on Juvenile Justice, prior to which
each state had its own enactment on juvenile justice, which differed in the way juveniles
were treated by the different state legal systems. The Indian Constitution provides in clause
(3) of article 15 and clauses (e) and (f) of Article 39, Article 47 and Article 45.
On 20th November 1989, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Convention on
the Rights of the Child i.e. right to survival, protection, development and participation. The
Government of India, ratified the said UN Convention on the 11th December 1992, and re-
enacted the existing law, viz., Juvenile Justice Act, 1986.
However since it did not yield the expected result, so the government proposed an act
called Juvenile Justice (Care and protection of children) Act, 2000. The Juvenile Justice
(Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000, which has replaced the earlier Juvenile Justice
Act, 1986, has been enforced in the entire country except the State of Jammu & Kashmir
from 1st April 2001.

Juvenile Justice (Care and protection of children) Act, 2000
The Act seeks to consolidate and modify the law relating to juveniles in conflict with the law
and children in need of care and protection, by providing for proper care, protection and
treatment by catering to their development needs, and by adopting a child-friendly
approach in the adjudication and disposition of matters in the best interest of children.
Juvenile Delinquency
The term ‘juvenile delinquency’ refers to a large variety of behavior of
children and adolescents which the society does not approve and for which
some kind of admonishment, punishment, or preventive and corrective measures
are justified in the public interest. Juvenile delinquency refers to the
failure of children and yout h to meet certain obligations expected of them by
the society in which they live.
According to Walter Reckless (1957), the term juvenile delinquency applies to
the violation of criminal code and pursuit of certain patterns of behaviour
disapproved off or c hildren and young adolescents.
Concept of Juvenile Delinquency:

Juvenile” or “Child” means a person who has not completed eighteen years of
age. The Act prescribes a uniform age for both boys and girls.
The conduct which tends to constitute an offence, not only from the legal
standpoint but also from the angle of prevalent social norms and values shall
be included within the meaning of the terms ‘delinquency’. For example,
smoking, begging, vagrancy, etc. being harmful for the growing children are
intended to be controlled be the enforcement of the Act.
Juvenile Crime is not naturally born in the child but it is largely present
in him because of the surroundings that he is brought up in, his own absurd
actions, or simply lack of discipline and proper educati on. The following are
some causes of juvenile delinquency.
Unplanned Urbanization:
Industrial development and economic growth has resulted in urbanization.
Which in turn resulted in the migration of large population from village to
urban area. It resulted in new problems such as housing, slum dwelling,
overcrowding, etc. The high cost of living in urban areas makes it necessary
even for women to take up outdoor jobs for supporting their families
financially. This results in the neglect of children and ineff ective or
almost nil parental control. The temptation of luxuries of life lures young
people and they may act in the wrong way to satisfy their wants. Thus
unplanned urbanization is one of the important causes of juvenile
delinquency.
Economic Problems:
Most of the time, the cause of juvenile delinquency is economic problems in
the family. Youth belonging from poor economic status easily get involved in
criminal activities. The failure of parents to provide necessities of life
such as food, clothing, etc. draws their children to delinquency in a quest
for earning money by whatever means. The intention to change the economic
status fast by any means results in juvenile delinquency.
Family Problems:
For the full and harmonious development, of their personali ty, children
should grow up in a family environment, in an atmosphere of happiness, love
and understanding. The family has more influence when the child is young, as
the child reaches adolescence, the peer group becomes increasingly important
as an influence on behaviour.
Children learn basic concepts about good and bad from their family, they make
their values and set the norms of society. Thus a family is a socialization
school for the children. Parents and siblings have a great role in shaping
the personality of the child.
The disintegration of joint families, broken families, single -parent
families, separated families, frequent parents fight, lack of trust and
confidence among the parents, criminal parents, psychological problems in
parents, siblings rivalry, or unequal treatment between children may become
reasons behind juvenile delinquency.
Psychological problems like depression, frustration, aggression, or hyper
behaviour in parents or siblings can result in juvenile delinquency. In such

a case, the child feels deprived and inferior among friends. There is a
chance that children may adopt depression and anger from parents or elder
siblings. Thus psychological problems in the family may result in juvenile
delinquency.
In many families and religious s ocieties parents or elder siblings are
involved in various social problems like gender discrimination, age
discrimination, racial discrimination, child labour, etc. Some parents do not
take care of their elders, and it is a known fact that such children wh o see
their parents disrespecting their elders, their children never respect their
parents and elder siblings.
A parenting style has a large impact on the behaviour of children. Autocratic
parents are sometimes very harsh and they punish their children for small
issues. Children start disrespecting such parents and may become violent.
Such children start behaving harshly with others.
Inefficient Education Infrastructure:
Due to poor education infrastructure classrooms are very small. Less number
of teachers are available. The classrooms concentrate a large number of
children in a small area for a major part of their day. Misconduct in school
ranges from discourtesy to teachers to vandalism, assault, drug use, and
alcohol abuse. Other problems observed are th e use of obscene language,
cheating, lying, petty theft, weapon possession, etc. Many schools themselves
handle most of the misconduct through relatively well -developed discipline
and observing policies.
Neighbourhood:
After the family and school, he spends the rest part of the day in the
company of neighbors. An antisocial neighborhood can contribute to juvenile
delinquency.
Peer Groups:
The peer group is an informal network of individuals of similar age
and generally formed spontaneously in areas where children readily meet
and interact. Habits of children and their friends such as stealing and
smoking, gambling and smoking, consuming alcohol, and smoking are generally
found among such peers.
Unemployment:
Not merely regular employment, but satisfactory employment is needed to keep
a man away from crime. Unemployment increases poverty, inequality and
resentment against society. Repeated rebuffs and disappointment sin getting a
job makes a man antisocial. Thus unemployment can be considered as one of
the reason for juvenile delinquency.
Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency:
o Identify juveniles which show delinquent behaviour.
o Provide them with the right treatment.
o Don’t treat them like hard -core adult criminals.

o Stop them from committing the offences so that they should not become
habitual offenders.
o Provide assistance to such children and his/her family from the
beginning
o Instead of punishment, use the concept of welfare, development and
growth of the juveniles should be us ed.
o The delinquency can be prevented through counselling, psychotherapy and
proper education of such juvenile and his family.
o Some employment, educational and rehabilitation techniques should be
used to help them to live a respectable life.
o Distinguishing Between Juvenile Delinquency and Crime by an Adult:
Juvenile Delinquency Crime by an Adult
Offences committed by a
juvenile are called
delinquent acts
Offences created by
an adult are called
crimes.
In the case of a delinquent
juvenile, there is
“adjudication hearings”
In case of adult
committed a crime
there is “trials”
Juvenile offenders undergo
adjudication hearing in the
Juvenile Justice Board.
Adult committed a
crime undergoes trial
in ordinary court of
law.
If found guilty, the juvenile
is referred as adjudicated
delinquent.
If found guilty, the
adult committed a
crime is called a
“convict”.
The juvenile court is much
more focused on the
rehabilitation of the
juvenile. There is more
emphasis on treatment,
therapy, and education
rather than just
punishment.
IN case of the adult
committed a crime, a
punishment is
pronounced.
Juvenile court hearings are
closed to the public and
typically, only the lawyers,
probation officer, the child,
and family are present in
the courtroom
In most of the cases
in case of adult
committed a crime,
all hearings in the
Court are open to the
public.
o Conclusion:
The youth is regarded to be one of the greatest assets of a country. They are
required to be groomed well for the future of any country. But due to social
and economic inequality, family problems, and peer pressure some children
start with petty crimes and it may lead to some hard and serious crime.

Juvenile delinquency refers to the failure of children and youth to meet
certain obligations expected of them by the society in which they live. It is
in the best interest of the deviant child to rehabilitate him as early as
possible an integrate him back into society.
Introduction
Computers and the internet are arguably the most influential inventions the world has ever
seen. Computers multiplied the speed of humans to accomplish any task. On the other
hand, the internet revolutionalised our connectivity to each other. The introduction of
computers and the internet have transformed our lives so tremendously that we can not
imagine our daily lives without them now.
Nevertheless, like every coin has two faces, computers and the internet have numerous
cons which can adversely affect the peace and stability of human lives. Technology is
vulnerable to misusage. Its advantages and disadvantages largely depend on the person
using it. Cyberspace (which is the virtual space connecting various computer systems) is
susceptible to allowing anyone to access the lives of others without their consent or
knowledge. To a large extent, it conceals the true identity of cybercriminals and prevents
them from being punished for their crimes.
The impact of cyber crimes is similar to that of conventional ones; however, cyber crimes
involve a lot of intricacies relating to jurisdiction, the identity of the criminal, etc.
Cyberspace is a space vulnerable to different interesting varieties of crimes. To know what
cyber crimes are, let’s dive into this article.
What are cyber crimes
Cyber crimes are crimes that involve criminal activities done through cyberspace by devices
connected to the internet. At times, cyber crimes are also called ‘computer crimes’. Most
cybercriminals commit cyber crimes with mainly three motives- monetary, personal, or
political.
Though cyber crimes do not physically affect anyone, they tend to seriously harm the
reputation, finances, and privacy of the targetted persons. Further, another crucial
characteristic of cyber crimes is the determination of jurisdiction. Since the identity of the
cybercriminal can be completely erased and mostly stays concealed in cyberspace, it is very
difficult to identify him/ her. Also, cybercriminals may launch cross-border cyber attacks.
For instance, a person situated in a country that prohibits pornography may access
pornographic content that is located on a computer in a country where it is not banned at
all. In such cases, it is very difficult to determine the liability of the person.
As far as India is concerned, the term cybercrime is not defined under any legal provision.
However, different types of cyber crimes are illustrated under the Information Technology
Act, 2000 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the IT Act’.) Further, certain provisions of the Indian
Penal Code, 1860 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the IPC’) are applicable to various cyber
crimes also. These cyber crimes-related legal provisions under the IT Act and IPC apply to
different types of cyber crimes, though their specific names are not mentioned therewith.
Classification of cyber crimes
Thanks to the expanding cyberspace, various types of cyber crimes are committed
worldwide. The major objective of committing such crimes is to gather confidential data
from people and use it for monetary, political, or personal motives.
Generally, almost all cyber crimes can be classified under three heads, depending on the
groups they are targetted at. The heads are:
 cyber crimes against individuals,
 cyber crimes against organizations, and
 cyber crimes against society at large.

Different types of cyber crimes that fall under the above-mentioned categories are
explained below.
Cyber crimes against individuals
Generally, ordinary individuals are the most vulnerable targets of cybercriminals. This is due
to various reasons like lack of information, guidance, and cyber-security. As per a
recent report published by Norton, 44% of individuals consider themselves as ‘worthwhile
targets’ for hackers.
The following are some of the main cyber crimes committed targeting individuals.
Cyberbullying
The term cyberbullying is not defined under any Indian law. However, in general parlance,
cyberbullying refers to bullying someone by threatening, harassing or embarrassing the
victim using technology digital device. Generally, cyberbullying includes the following
activities on the internet:
 Humiliating/embarrassing content posted online about the victim of online
bullying,
 Hacking social media accounts
 Posting vulgar messages on social media
 Threatening the victim to commit any violent activity
 Child pornography or threatening someone with child pornography
In India, a whopping amount of almost 85% of children experiences cyberbullying. There
are no specific provisions that deal with cyberbullying. Section 67 of the IT Act is the closest
legal provision relating to cyberbullying. It penalises anyone who transmits obscene
materials in electronic form. The punishment for such transmission is imprisonment for a
term which may extend to five years and a fine which may extend to ten lakh rupees.
Cyberstalking
Browsing anyone’s internet history or online activity, and sending obscene content online
with the help of any social media, software, application, etc. to know about that particular
person is called cyberstalking. Cyberstalkers take advantage of the inconspicuousness
provided by the internet. They are generally not detectable by the victim, as it is very easy
for cyberstalkers to open spam accounts just to stalk any person; once the stalker deletes
the account, his/ her identity completely vanishes.
In India, in the year 2020, the state of Uttar Pradesh witnessed the highest number of
cyberstalking incidents against women and children, with around 11 thousand registered
cases.
Section 67 of the IT Act punishes cyber stalkers who send, cause to send, or publish
obscene posts or content on electronic media with imprisonment of up to three years and a
fine.
Cyber defamation
Cyber defamation means injuring the other person’s reputation via the internet through
social media, Emails etc. There are two types of Cyber defamation: libel and slander.
 Libel: It refers to any defamatory statement which is in written form. For
instance, writing defamatory comments on posts, forwarding defamatory
messages on social media groups, etc. are a part of cyber defamation in the form
of libel.

 Slander: It refers to any defamatory statement published in oral form. For
instance, uploading videos defaming someone on YouTube is a part of cyber
defamation in the form of slander.
Punishment for Cyber defamation is provided under Section 67 of the IT Act; whoever
publishes or transmits a defamatory statement about a person shall be punished with 2
years imprisonment and a fine up to ₹25000.
Phishing
Phishing refers to the fraudulent practice of sending emails under the pretext of reputable
companies to induce individuals to reveal personal information, such as passwords, credit
card numbers, etc., online. Phishing refers to the impersonation of a legitimate person and
fraudulently stealing someone’s data. Through phishing attacks, cybercriminals not only
exploit innocent individuals but also spoil the reputation of well-known companies.
Section 66C of the IT Act penalises any offender committing phishing-related activities. It
provides that anyone who fraudulently uses an electronic signature, password or any other
unique identification feature of any other person is punishable with imprisonment of up to
three years and a fine of up to rupees one lakh.
Cyber fraud
As the name suggests, cyber fraud refers to any act of fraud committed with the use of a
computer. Any person who dishonestly uses the internet to illegal deceive people and gets
personal data, communication, etc. with a motive to make money i s called a cyber fraud.
Examples of cyber fraud include sending emails containing fake invoices, sending fake
emails from email addresses similar to the official ones, etc.
There is no specification for cyber fraud. But Section 420 of IPC which deals with cheating
applies to cyber fraud also. Punishment for cyber fraud under Section 420 of IPC is
imprisonment of up to seven years with a fine.
Cyber theft
Cyber theft is a type of cybercrime which involves the unauthorized access of personal or
other information of people by using the internet. The main motive of the cyber criminals
who commit cyber theft is to gather confidential data like passwords, images, phone
numbers, etc. and use it as leverage to demand a lumpsum amount of money. The
unauthorized transmission of copyrighted materials, trademarks, etc. over the internet is
also a part of cyber theft. Cyber thefts are committed through various means, like hacking,
email/ SMS spoofing, etc.
Yahoo!, Inc. v. Akash Arora (1999), which was one of the initial cases related to cyber theft
in India. In this case, the defendant was accused of using the trademark or domain name
‘yahooindia.com,’. The Court ordered a permanent injunction under Order 39 Rules 1 & 2
CPC in this case.
Spyware
Spyware is a type of malware or malicious software, when it is installed it starts accessing
and computing the other person’s device without the end user’s knowledge. The primary
goal of this software is to steal credit card numbers, passwords, One-Time Passwords
(OTPs), etc.
Punishment for spyware is provided under Section 43 of the IT Act. It states that if any
person damages the computer, system, etc. of any other person without his/ her
permission, he/ she shall be liable to pay damages by way of compensation to the person so
affected.

Cyber crimes against organizations
The cyber crimes mainly targeting individuals may help cybercriminals get only a meagre
amount of ransom, depending on the financial status of the targeted individuals. On the
other hand, cyber-attacking large companies or organisations can help them get their hands
on extremely confidential data of both private and public institutions or entities. Cyber
attacks on organizations are generally launched on a large scale to get a lump sum amount
of ransom. Since such attacks drastically damage the companies’ daily operations, most
companies try to resolve them as fast as possible. The following are the kinds of cyber
crimes launched targeting organizations.
Attacks by virus
A computer virus is a kind of malware which connects itself to another computer program
and can replicate and expand when any person attempts to run it on their computer system.
For example, the opening of unknown attachments received from malicious emails may lead
to the automatic installation of the virus on the system in which it is opened. These viruses
are extremely dangerous, as they can steal or destroy computer data, crash computer
systems, etc. The attackers program such malicious viruses to get hold of organisations’
official or confidential data. The illegally retrieved data is then used as leverage to extort
ransom from the organisations.
There are no specific provisions as to virus attacks in India. Nevertheless, Section 383 of
IPC, which deals with extortion, is applicable to virus attacks. The Section states that
whoever intentionally puts any person in fear of any injury to him or anyone else, and
dishonestly induces the person so put in fear to deliver to any property or valuable security,
or anything signed or sealed which may be converted into a valuable security, commits
‘Extortion’. The punishment for extortion under Section 384 of IPC is imprisonment for up to
three years, or fine, or both.
Salami attack
It is one of the tactics to steal money, which means the hacker steals the money in small
amounts. The damage done is so minor that it is unnoticed. Generally, there are two types
of Salami attacks- Salami slicing and Penny shaving. In Salami slicing, the attacker uses an
online database to obtain customer information, such as bank/credit card details. Over time,
the attacker deducts insignificant amounts from each account. These sums naturally add up
to large sums of money taken from the joint accounts invisibly.
Any person convicted of a Salami attack shall be punished under Section 66 IT Act with
imprisonment up to three years or a fine up to 5 lakhs or maybe both
Web Jacking
Web Jacking refers to the illegal redirection of a user’s browser from a trusted domain’s
page to a fake domain without the user’s consent. By using the method of Web Jacking,
people visiting any well-known or reliable website can be easily redirected to bogus
websites, which in turn lead to the installation of malware, leak of personal data, etc. Web
jackers intend to illegally collect confidential information of users by enticing them to click
on any link which may seem genuine at the first glance.
There are no specific provisions dealing with web jacking under any Indian law. However, it
can be punished under Section 383 of IPC, which primarily deals with extortion. The
punishment for web jacking under Section 383 of IPC is imprisonment of up to three years
or with a fine, or both.

Denial of Service Attack
Denial of Service Attack or DoS, is a cyber attack on computer devices or systems,
preventing the legal users or accessors of the system from accessing them. The attackers
generally attack systems in such a manner by trafficking the targeted system until it
ultimately crashes. DoS attacks cost millions of dollars to the corporate world, as it curbs
them from using their own systems and carrying out their activities. The attack may be also
used to incorporate ransomware into corporate systems.
Cyber attackers who launch DoS in India are punishable under Section 66F of the IT Act,
which deals with cyber terrorism. As per the said Section, any person who disrupts the
authorised access to a computer resource or gets access to a computer resource through
unauthorised means or causes damage to a computer network is liable for imprisonment
which may extend for life.
Data diddling
Data diddling is a cyber crime which involves the unauthorized alteration of data entries on
a computer. It may be done either before or during the entry of such data. It is generally
committed by way of computer virus attacks. At times, to conceal the alteration, the altered
data is changed to its original data after retrieving the required information. Usually, the
strategic or statistical data of large companies.
In India, data diddling is an offence under Section 65 of the IT Act. The said Section
provides that knowingly or intentionally concealing, destroying, altering or causing another
to conceal, destroy, or alter any computer source code used for a computer, computer
programme, computer system or computer network is punishable with imprisonment of up
to three years or with fine of up to two lakhs.
Cyber crimes against society at large
Apart from the cyber crimes committed targeting individuals in society, various other cyber
attacks are launched against the community at large. Such cyber crimes may be aimed
either against any particular section of society or the entire country. The following are a few
types of cyber crimes against the community at large.
Cyber pornography
As per Merriam-Webster Dictionary, pornography is the depiction of erotic behaviour (as in
pictures or writing) intended to cause sexual excitement. Accordingly, cyber pornography
refers to using the internet to display, distribute, import, or publish pornography or obscene
materials.
Under the IT Act, provisions as to cyber pornography are given under Section 67 of the IT
Act. It states that the following activities are punishable with imprisonment of up to 3 years
and a fine of up to 5 lakhs:
1. Uploading pornographic content on any website, social media, etc. where third
parties may access it.
2. Transmitting obscene photos to anyone through email, messaging, social media,
etc.
Cyber terrorism
Cyber terrorism means using cyberspace to hurt the general public and damage the
integrity and sovereignty of any country. The IT Act defines cyber terrorism under Section
66F as any acts done by a person with the intent to create a threat to the unity, integrity,
sovereignty and security of the nation or create terror in minds of people or section of
people by way of disrupting the authorised access to a computer resource or getting access

to a computer resource through unauthorised means or causing damage to a computer
network.
Cyber terrorism is generally carried out in the following ways:
1. Hacking government-owned systems of the target country and getting
confidential information.
2. Destructing and destroying government databases and backups by incorporating
viruses or malware into the systems.
3. Disrupting government networks of the target nation.
4. Distracting the government authorities and preventing them from focusing on
matters of priority.
The punishment for cyber terrorism as provided under Section 66F of the IT Act is
imprisonment of up to 3 years and/or up to Rs 2 lakh fine.
Cyber Espionage
According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, espionage is “the practice of spying or using spies
to obtain information about the plans and activities especially of a foreign government or a
competing company.” Similarly, cyber espionage refers to the unauthorized accessing of
sensitive data or intellectual property for economic, or political reasons. It is also called
‘cyber spying’.
In most cases of cyber espionage, spies in the form of hackers are deliberately recruited to
launch cyber attacks on the government systems of enemy nations to stealthily collect
confidential information. The cross-border exposure of sensitive data related to any country
can continue as long as it stays undetected. The information gathered through cyber
espionage is then used by the gathering country to either combat or launch military or
political attacks on the enemy country.
Generally, the following data are gathered through cyber espionage:
 Military data
 Academic research-related data
 Intellectual property
 Politically strategic data, etc.
Though cyber espionage has serious consequences, unfortunately, there are no specific
provisions related to it under any Indian law. However, cyber spies may be punished
under Section 120A of IPC, which deals with criminal conspiracy. It provides that when two
or more persons agree to do, or cause to be done, –
 an illegal act, or
 an act which is not illegal by illegal means, such an agreement is designated a
criminal conspiracy.
The punishment of criminal conspiracy is provided under Section 120B of IPC as a death
sentence, imprisonment for life, and rigorous imprisonment for at least 2 years.
Further, any Indian who abets cyber espionage against India can be also punished
under Section 121 of IPC, which deals with waging, attempting, or abetting waging war
against the Government of India. The punishment prescribed for the same is the death
sentence, imprisonment for life, and a fine.
What is cyber crime?
Any illegal or unethical activity through internet use or using computer as a tool can be a
cyber crime. Cyber crime is done by cyber criminals who try to exploit broken software.
Creating and selling broken software is a crime. Also, creating and selling untested software
is also considered a crime.

Types of cyber crime
Cyber crime can be of many types. Types of cyber attacks are discussed below:
1. Hacking
Hacking is basically gaining unauthorized access to your system profit, protest,
information gathering, or to evaluate system weaknesses. The provisions for hacking
are given in IT Act, 2000 under section 43-A and 66 and section 379 & 406 of Indian
Penal Code. The punishment for hacking is 3 years or shall be imposed with fine up
to 5 lakhs.
�
2. Denial of Service
It brings down the server (any server). It is known as the flooding machine with
requests in an attempt to overload systems. It also uses bots for tasks. The
provisions are given under section 43(f) of IT Act with imprisonment up to 3 years or
with fine up to 5 lakh rupees.
3. Virus Dissemination
It involves direct or search unauthorized access to system by introducing malicious
programs known as viruses, worms etc. Virus needs host while worms are
standalone.
Provisions are provided under the IT Act, 2000 under sections 43-C, 66 and section
268 of the Indian Penal Code.
�
4. Credit Card Fraud
Card fraud begins either with the theft of the physical card or with the comprise of
data associated with the account. Provisions of such fraud are given under Section
66 C and 66 D of IT ACT, 2000 and section 468 & 471 of Indian Penal Code, 1860.
�
5. Phishing
A malicious individual or group who scam users. They do so by sending e-mails or
creating web pages that are designed to collect an individual�s online bank credit
card, or other login information. The provisions to prosecute any person for phishing
are given under section 66 C, 66 D and 74 of the IT Act with imprisonment up to 3
years or with fine up to 1 lakh rupees.
1. Cyber Stalking
It can be defined as the use of electronic communications to harass or frighten
someone, for example by sending threatening emails. The provisions are given under
IT Act, 2008 under section 72 and section 354 C (voyeurism) of the Indian Penal
Code. Also, section 67 provides imprisonment up to 3 years with fine.

What leads to the commission of cyber crime?
There are 4 main causes which lead to the commission of cyber crime.
 Breach Because of Mobile Devices
In 2015, mobile devices had less than 1% infection rate, so they were considered
safe. Now, more than three-fifths of IT security professionals report that it is either
certain.
�
 Embedding Malware Into Legitimate Applications
Cyber criminals have embedded malware into legitimate applications and they are

targeting poorly secured WiFi spots, stealing passwords, and more in their quest to
steal information.
 Exploiting Unauthorized Products
In many cases, attackers like to exploit unauthorized products having weak security
controls in the corporate cloud.
�
 Unlimited Internet Access
By using internet, we have given convenience in accessing without any limitations.
This is the foremost factor which causes cyber crime.

Conclusion
Across the globe and specifically in India, these frauds are growing rapidly since 2010. This
is mainly due to lack of awareness in some states and also, among some banks and other
organizations. However, if we adopt few anti-fraud strategies like biometrics or keeping an
expert in this field could prevent us from getting into such frauds.
Trafficking means a trade which is illegal. Human trafficking is carrying out a trade on
humans. Humans are trafficked for the purpose of sexual slavery, commercial sexua l
exploitation, extraction of organs or tissues, forced marriage, forced labor or domestic
servitude. Human trafficking after drugs and the arms trade is the third largest organized
crime across the world.

Human trafficking across the world is mainly done for sexual exploitation where women and
children turn as victims to it. Human trafficking is done for a number of purposes but sadly
in our country the act which exists against human trafficking is Immoral Trafficking
Prevention Act (ITPA) and it only combats against the human trafficking if it is done for the
purpose of sexual exploitation.

So the legal provisions relating to human trafficking as whole must be strengthened in order
to prevent human trafficking in India. Human trafficking leads to violation of human rights
of the individuals and also they are subjected to re-victimization. The laws for human
trafficking must be strengthened that it meets all the requirements for preventing human
trafficking.
Reasons For Human Trafficking
There are many reasons for human trafficking. They are determined by political, economic
and cultural factors. Trafficking in persons is according to the doctrine of supply and
demand. Firstly, there are certain factors in the country such as need of employment,
poverty, social conditions, instances of armed or war conflicts lack of political and economic
stability, lack of proper access to education and information etc. Secondly, in developed and
wealthy countries there is demand for inexpensive products, cheap labour and low priced
services.

The organized crime groups have found an opportunity for making huge profits by
connecting the supply and demand that by clubbing the first and the second instances.
These reasons lead to increased migration but a condition of restricted migration due to
numerous policies of the State. People use smuggling channels for human trafficking
exposing themselves to exploitation, deceit, violence and abuse.
Consequences Of Human Trafficking
The victims in the process of trafficking in persons are abused and exploited in certain
conditions which may result in short term and long term minor and severe psychological and
physical attacks, diseases especially sexually transmitted diseases or HIV viruses. This
condition can even lead to the permanent disability and death.

The direct consequences of human trafficking are aggression, depression, disorientation,

alienation and difficulties in concentration. Many studies have shown that injuries and
traumas acquired during the process of trafficking can last for a long period even after the
person has become free from exploitation and this mainly occurs when the victim is not
given with proper care and counsel.

Even the rehabilitation process for the victims cannot be guaranteed for a certain result.
Although the victims are brought out from the physical problems, the trauma and the
psychological problems does not allow the victim to totally recover from the consequences.
Some of the victims find it difficult to adapt to the normal lives that they previously carried
out.
The sad part about the victims of human trafficking is that the rights of the victims are
violated even after they come out from the status of exploitation. In many cases they face
re-victimization. In many of the countries the protection provided to the trafficked persons
is directly conditioned by their willingness to cooperate with the competent authorities. But
these conditional protection is contrary to the full access and protection of human rights and
the use of trafficked persons as an instrument in the criminal proceedings are not allowed.
[2]
Introduction
The trafficking of humans, especially of women for the purpose of prostitution, is a form of
organised crime which extends across borders. The Suppression of Immoral Traffic in
Women and Children Act, 1956 was passed on 30
th
December 1956. This Act extends to the
whole of India.
The United Nations Convention on for the ‘Suppression of Traffic in Persons and of the
Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others, 1949, was signed in New York on 9
th
May 1950.
India, being the member country, became the signatory to this convention in 1950 and in
pursuance of the obligations under this convention enacted the Suppression of Immoral
Traffic in Women and Girls Act in 1956. The Act aims at suppressing the evils of prostitution
in women and girls and achieve a public purpose namely to rescue the women and girls and
provide them such assistance to make them decent members of the society.
In 1986 the Act was retitled as Immoral Traffic Prevention Act, 1956 (hereinafter referred to
as ITPA or as Act). The amending Act of 1986 deleted the words ‘suppression’ and ‘women
and children’ from the title of the Act making the Act gender neutral[1]. For this, the key
role was played by the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against
Women (CEDAW), 1979 to which India became the party in 1980. This Act only includes
trafficking for the purpose of prostitution in its ambit and excludes the other forms of
trafficking.
Prostitution can be cited as an example of one of the oldest professions in the world.
Humans have exchanged money and goods for sex for thousands of years. The soci ety that
begins to develop material wealth soon develops some or other forms of prostitution.
Prostitution is considered as a crudest demonstration of society in which women are to sell
their bodies as means of sustenance.
Section 2(f) of the Act defines “prostitution” as “the sexual exploitation or abuse of
persons for commercial purpose or for consideration in money or in any other kind”. In
simple words, prostitution is commercialised sex which involves a customer and a seller
without normal motives of procreation and pleasure. This act is widely denounced and thus
making a prostitute a disagreeable person in the eyes of public at large. The females were
engaged in sexual activity with many males with whom she has no affinity, thus, capable of
disrupting families.
Object of Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956
There is no denial of the fact that prostitution is running soul in the body of civilization and
destroys all moral values. The causes and evil effects of prostitution are many. The purpose
of this Act is not to abolish prostitution. There is no provision in the Act which makes the
prostitution a criminal offence per se or punishes a person because he indulges in

prostitution. What is punishable under the Act is sexual exploitation or abuse of person for
commercial purpose[2].
Analysis of the Act
On analysis of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956 one can come across its merits
and shortcomings which can be broadly laid down as follows.
1. The use of the term ‘immoral’ in the title of the Act creates doubt in one’s mind that there
could be something known as ‘moral trafficking’. As we know that when it comes to
trafficking it is always considered immoral. So, why there is the word ‘immoral’ before the
word ‘trafficking’ in the title of the Act.
Through the 1986 amendment the term ‘persons’ was inserted in the definition of the term
prostitution instead of terms ‘women and children’ making it gender-neutral to cover even
male prostitutes. However, Section 10A deals with the detention of the female offenders in
the corrective institutions in order to be rehabilitated. There is an irony as far as this
provision is concerned, the Act calls itself gender-neutral but when it comes to corrective
institutions the provision is gender-specific. It talks only about the correction of women
prostitutes
The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956 not only criminalises most forms of sex
trafficking but also criminalises certain transactional phases of voluntary trafficking like
soliciting.
4. Trafficking has been addressed only as an act related to prostitution and not as an
explicit offence under the legislation. As stated earlier the enactment deals with trafficking
only with respect to prostitution leaving the other intentions of trafficking such as child
labour, slavery, bonded labourers, organ trading out of the legislative ambit.
As per the provisions of this Act the term prostitute means the person who sexually exploits
others for monetary gain and the person who are exploited are the victims of prostitution
who unfortunately are featured peripherally in the Act. After adopting the modified definition
of prostitution, the enactment is completely ambiguous. What actually occurred here is blind
exclusion of victims of prostitution, their rehabilitation and counselling to exploiters who are
not qualified as prostitutes. Thus, this enactment focussed on the exploiters of prostitution
who under the earlier enactment were abetters of the act of prostitutions.
This Act only prevents and regulates prostitution, it does not prohibit prostitution.
Underlying legislative policy in the legislation is not abolition of prevention of prostitution
but specifying certain activity which are associated with the commercialisation of sex.
7. The enactment is not completely penal but also the social welfare legislation. It requires
for rehabilitation and correction of the offenders found culpable of the offence. Rehabilitative
measures include creation of protection homes and corrective institutions for offenders.
In this context we have to refer Section 10A, it deals with the detention of female offenders
in corrective institutions in order to be rehabilitated. The provision features her detention, if
from her character physical, mental and overall health it appears that detention for a
specified term under instruction and discipline are conducive to her correction[3].
However, there is an irony as far as this provision is concerned. The Act calls itself gender-
neutral but when it comes to corrective institutions the provision is gender-specific. It talks
about correction of only women prostitutes.
Section 17 states about appropriate care and protection, medical and psychiatric treatment,
guardianship and education of rescued minor is also provided and this is provided under the
Act. This minor in question must have been running a brothel or living on the earnings of
prostitution. This also extends to persons carrying on or being made to carry on prostitution
too, who on application to the magistrate may be moved to a protective home and provided
care and protection by the court.[4]
Though a reformative measure without any rehabilitation initiative, the probability of a
person detained in the protective home for a certain period of time to transfer in the
reformed person is highly implausible. Moreover, the statute is silent on whether ones
released from detention they were continued to be monitored. The focus remains only on

the perpetrators i.e. exploiters of the prostitution and not on the actual victims of
prostitution who deserves rehabilitation and counselling and above all monetary support in
starting life afresh.
Unit 3
What is the Meaning of Penology?
Penology refers to the scientific study of punishment, including its administration, effects, and purposes. It seeks to
understand the reasons for punishment, the different types of punishments, and the methods used to administer them.
Types Of Penology
Penology is broadly classified into different categories:
1. Retributive penology is based on the principle that offenders should be punished for their crimes in a way
that is proportional to the harm they have caused. This branch focuses on punishment as a means of
retribution and deterrence.
2. Rehabilitative penology is based on the principle that offenders can be rehabilitated and reintegrated into
society. This approach emphasizes treatment and education to help offenders overcome the factors that
contributed to their criminal behaviour.
3. Restorative penology is based on the principle that the criminal justice system should focus on repairing
the harm caused by crime and restoring relationships between offenders, victims, and their communities.
This approach emphasizes community involvement and mediation.
4. Critical penology is based on the principle that the criminal justice system is a product of social,
economic, and political forces that perpetuate inequality and oppression. This approach emphasizes the
need to challenge and reform the criminal justice system to address underlying issues of power and social
justice.
5. Comparative penology is the study of the differences and similarities in criminal justice systems and
correctional practices in different countries and cultures. This approach emphasizes the need to understand
and learn from other systems to develop more effective and humane policies and practices.
Importance of Penology
Penology plays a critical role in the criminal justice system.
 It helps to ensure that offenders are punished in a manner that is consistent with the law and ethical
principles.
 It also plays a role in deterring crime and protecting society by imposing sanctions on offenders.
 Additionally, it has a significant impact on the lives of offenders, as it can determine their future prospects
and rehabilitation.
Meaning of Penology
Penology is the scientific study of the punishment and rehabilitation of criminals. It is a
multidisciplinary field that includes sociology, psychology, criminology, and law. Penologists study
the nature of the crime, the effects of punishment on offenders, and alternative forms of punishment
and rehabilitation.
It is a branch of criminology that deals with the theories of punishment and the effects that
punishment has on both the individual and society. Penologists are interested in finding ways to
rehabilitate prisoners and reduce crime rates. The word “penology” is derived from the Latin words
“Pena” meaning “punishment” and “logos” meaning “study.” Therefore, penology is the study of
punishment.
The discipline of penology was born in the late 19th century. In 1885, the French criminologist
Auguste Forel coined the word “penology” to refer to the study of criminal justice systems and
their effects on offenders. The word “penology” was first used in 1885 by French criminologist
Auguste Forel in a book he wrote entitled “Penology: The Science of Crime and Punishment”.
Forel applied this term to the study of criminal justice systems and their effects on offenders.
It is essential that the administrative personnel involved with prisons’ custodial functions are
capable and conscientious of their social responsibilities. Before taking the job, they must undergo
entry-level training and be well-educated. The prison authorities should use the services of
psychologists, social workers, and media persons to carry out their correctional programs. Jail

supervisors and prison guards have a special duty to keep prisoners under control and to keep an
eye on non-loyal inmates.
 Within the criminal justice system, administrative penology deals with the
administration and management of punishment.
 As well as arrest, trial, sentencing, and incarceration, it discusses the processes
involved in punishing offenders.
 Aspects of administrative penology include rehabilitation and reintegration programs,
supervision of parolees and probationers, management of correctional facilities, and
corrections facilities management.
 As part of administrative penology, a key goal is to ensure detainees are punished fairly,
and effectively, and are rehabilitated and integrated into society.
 In administrative penology, overcrowding, security, rehabilitation, and prison population
management are also important aspects.
 The study of administrative penology encompasses the effects of fines, community service,
and imprisonment on offenders and the broader population as well.
 The program also covers the management of parole and probation, including assessing
offenders for release, establishing supervision conditions, and disciplining offenders who
violate their conditions.
 To manage and administer punishment, administrative penology draws on a variety of
disciplines, including criminology, sociology, psychology, and law.
b) Scientific Penology
Privatization should be aimed at individualizing prisoners, and rehabilitative techniques are largely
effective when disciplinary and custodial conditions are relaxed while keeping the individual’s
personality in mind. Prison inmates may receive scientific corrective treatment from therapeutic
specialists. Instead of punishing inmates, the prison environment should correct them.
 The science of scientific penology pertains to the prevention and rehabilitation of
crime using scientific principles and methods.
 Developing criminal justice policies and practices involves using evidence-based
research.
 As a result of this approach, social factors, mental health issues, and poverty are
considered to be important factors in criminal behavior.
 In addition to rehabilitation programs, punishment, and community-based alternatives to
prison, scientific penology focuses on the effectiveness of different interventions.
 Measures the effectiveness of criminal justice policies and programs using data and
statistics.
 By addressing the root causes of criminal behavior and providing victims with reintegration
tools, this approach aims to reduce recidivism and increase public safety.
 An expert in criminology, psychology, sociology and other related fields collaborates in
scientific penology.
 In order to reduce crime and promote public safety, it provides guidance and ensures
policies and practices are evidence-based and effective.
Academic Penology
The main purpose of academic penology is to disseminate penological knowledge. Penology is
limited to theoretical knowledge. Academic penology is the study of criminal justice in relation to
academic institutions. It encompasses a variety of topics, such as sentencing and parole, higher
education and professional licensure, and research misconduct.
Academic penology also seeks to develop best practices for mitigating and preventing crime on
campus. The MLA is the leading scholarly organization in the field of academic penology. The MLA
publishes the “Journal of Academic Penology”, and organizes annual meetings that bring together
academics, law enforcement officials, and policymakers.
 Academic Penology examines how students are disciplined and punished for
misbehaving, including suspension and expulsion, as well as alternative punishment
methods.

 The study of Academic Penology also explores the use of restorative justice
approaches to discipline, which focus on repairing the damage caused by
misbehavior and promoting reconciliation.
 In Academic Penology, we study how schools and other educational institutions can
assist reintegrated students who have been involved in the criminal justice system
in achieving their educational goals.
 Academic penology also examines ways to prevent misbehavior and promote positive
behavior in schools and other educational institutions. These interventions include positive
behavioral support, social-emotional learning, and character education.
 Identifying best practices for addressing student behavior is done through research and
evaluation methods in Academic Penology.
d) Analytical Penology
An objective assessment of existing penal policies and methods is undertaken, as well as
suggestions for improvement. As such, it provides solutions for the efficient administration of
penal justice based on a critical analysis of penal measures.Penological theory has undergone a
significant transformation in the past decade, with a renewed focus on offender rehabilitation.
Analytical penology seeks to understand criminal behavior through the lens of psychology and
neuroscience, in an effort to develop more effective punishment strategies. This new paradigm is
based on the premise that remorse and reform are key factors in reducing crime rates, and that
rehabilitation programs are the most effective way to achieve these goals.
 The field of analytical penology focuses on studying punishment and the effects it
has on offenders.
 As opposed to tradition or personal preference, this approach emphasizes the
importance of evidence-based punishments.
 The goal of analytical criminology is to understand the causes of criminal behavior
and to reduce recidivism as effectively as possible.
 In order to inform policy decisions and criminal justice practices, this approach emphasizes
the use of scientific research and data analysis.
 The goal of analytical criminology is to find out what types of punishment are most effective,
including incarceration, community supervision, and rehabilitation programs.
 The approach also considers the impacts of different punishments on communities and
victims, as well as the economic and social costs and benefits.
 The field of analytical penology is widely used in policy-making and criminal justice reform
to gain a deeper understanding of crime and punishment.
Importance of Penology
Penology is the study of the punishment and rehabilitation of criminals. It is important to study
penology because it can help us understand how to best rehabilitate criminals and prevent crime.
Penology is also important because it can help us understand why people commit crimes and what
solutions might be available to reduce crime.
It is a vital part of the criminal justice system, as it helps to ensure that criminals are punished for
their crimes, and that they are given the opportunity to rehabilitate and become law-abiding citizens.
Penology is also important in order to deter crime, as potential criminals will be aware that they will
face punishment if they are caught.
There are many different aspects of penology, such as sentencing, parole, and rehabilitation, and
it is important to have a system that considers all of these factors
Scope of Penology
Penology is the study of punishment and corrections. It is a branch of sociology that examines the
effects of crime and justice systems on society. Penologists may work in prisons, jails, court
systems, and other law enforcement agencies.
Penology has many different goals, including deterrence, rehabilitation, retribution, and
incapacitation. These goals often conflict with one another, and penologists must make difficult
decisions about the best way to punish criminals.

The field of penology is constantly changing, as researchers learn more about crime and justice
systems. New technologies have led to new methods of punishment and rehabilitation, and
penologists must keep up with these changes in order to provide the best possible service to
society.
Modern Penology
1. Modern penology is based on the rehabilitation of offenders.
2. Offenders are seen as individuals who can be rehabilitated and reintegrated into society.
3. The focus is on preventing crime through rehabilitation and reintegration rather than
punishment.
Introduction
Punishment. A term which is inherent to criminal justice. It is only because of the term
punishment, that certain acts are classified as ‘crimes’. Down the lane of the history of the
society, we have seen that without punishments, it would have sometimes been impossible
to tame the barbaric, as well as primitive tendencies of the public. It was the weapon
named ‘punishment’, that the rulers used against their subjects in order to maintain a fear
in the minds of the public regarding the capacities and powers of their rulers. Punishments
sometimes were also given as an insult to someone else. However, the most common
punishment from which all of us are familiar is the scolding or mild beating that we get from
our parents. In that case, what are the theories of punishment actually in case of serious
crimes? How did they develop? What are the pros and cons of the various ways of punishing
people? Do the Hindu scriptures too depict any form of the punishments mentioned
hereinafter? Through this paper, we will try to answer all such questions and understand
how far are the various Theories of Punishment applicable in the present era. The theories
of punishment are as follows:
 RETRIBUTIVE THEORY.
 DETERRENT THEORY.
 PREVENTIVE THEORY.
 INCAPACITATION THEORY.
 COMPENSATORY THEORY.
 REFORMATIVE THEORY.
 UTILITIRIAN THEORY.
Retributive Theory of punishment
The Retributive Theory of Punishment, or the ‘Theory of Vengeance’, as many people in the
society would perceive it as, is the most basic, yet inconsiderate theory of inflicting a penal
sentence over a perpetrator. It is based on a very small doctrine, namely the doctrine of Lex
talionis, which if translated, means ‘an eye for an eye’. Now, if looked at from the
perspective of very serious and heinous offences, like the Delhi gang rape case, people may
feel that it is better to inflict such retributive punishments, so as to ensure that a deterrent
is set across the society, in order to prevent such crimes in the near future.
Understanding Retributive Theory of Punishment:
‘The concept of retributive justice has been used in a variety of ways, but it is best
understood as that form of justice committed to the following three principles:
1. that those who commit certain kinds of wrongful acts, paradigmatically serious
crimes, morally deserve to suffer a proportionate punishment;
2. that it is intrinsically morally good—good without reference to any other goods
that might arise—if some legitimate punisher gives them the punishment they
deserve; and
3. that it is morally impermissible intentionally to punish the innocent or to inflict
disproportionately large punishments on wrongdoers.’

The above three principles clarify the needs for retributive justice even further. We may
understand retributive justice in this manner. The place where both Criminal Law as well as
Moral Law meet, is the place where mostly the retributive punishments are generated.
In fact, although people may classify punishments into seven different types, but in reality,
every punishment, indeed, is retributive in nature. It is very interesting to see that the
damages claimed under Torts, or the remedies sort for environmental violations, maybe
compensatory, but at their hearts, are retributive in nature. Then why aren’t they labelled
as retributive, instead? Well, the answer to the question is simple. Retributive punishments
are somewhat vengeful in their nature (an eye for an eye). They may not be vengeful
always, but maybe merely morally vengeful. When we say this, it means that although the
punishment is not literally the thing that was originally done by the perpetrator, is still acts
as a vengeance by virtue of its seriousness.
E.g: If a person rapes someone, capital punishment maybe given as a retributive measure.
If we literally give the person back what he did, i.e., sex, then it would be pleasurable
rather than torturing for him. Now that we have understood briefly that how exactly the
retributive punishment works, let us now move on to understand the ways in which
Retributive Theory is displayed in the Hindu texts and scriptures.
Deterrent Theory of punishment
In Deterrent theory of punishment, the term “DETER” means to abstain from doing any
wrongful act. The main aim of this theory is to “deter” (to prevent) the criminals from
attempting any crime or repeating the same crime in future. So, it states that deterring
crime by creating a fear is the objective; to set or establish an example for the individuals
or the whole society by punishing the criminal. That simply means, according to this theory
if someone commits any crime and he/she is punished by a severe punishment, then, it may
result maybe that the people of the society will be or may be aware of the severe
punishments for certain kinds of crimes and because of this fear in the minds of the people
of the society, the people may stop from committing any kind of crime or wrongful act. Here
I used the phrase “may stop” instead of “will stop”. That means, there is a probability of
committing any crime or repeating the same crime.
The deterrent theory of punishment is utilitarian in nature. For a better understanding we
can say like, ‘The man is punished not only because he has done a wrongful act, but also in
order to ensure the crime may not be committed.’ It is best expressed in the word of
Burnett, J who said to a prisoner:
“Thou art to be hanged not for having stolen a horse, but in order that other horses may not
be stolen”.
Through making the potential criminals realize that it doesn’t pay to commit a crime, the
deterrent theory hopes to control the crime rate in the society.
Preventive Theory of punishment
Preventive theory of punishment seeks to prevent prospective crimes by disabling the
criminals. Main object of the preventive theory is transforming the criminal, either
permanently or temporarily. Under this theory the criminals are punished by death sentence
or life imprisonment etc.
Philosophical View of Preventive Theory:
Utilitarian’s such as Bentham, Mill and Austin of England supported the preventive theory of
punishment due to its humanizing nature. Philosophy of preventive theory affirms that the
preventive theory serves as an effective deterrent and also a successful preventive theory
depends on the factors of promptness. The profounder of this theory held that the aim of
punishment is to prevent the crimes. The crimes can be prevented when the criminal and
his notorious activities are checked. The check is possible by disablement. The disablement
may be of different types. Confining inside the prison is a limited form of disablement, that
is temporary and when it is an unlimited form of disablement, that is permanent. It
suggests that imprisonment is the best mode of crime prevention, as it seeks to eliminate

offenders from society, thus disabling them from repeating the crime. The death penalty is
also based on this theory. This theory is another form of deterrent theory. One is to deter
the society while another is to prevent the offender from committing the crime. From an
overall study, we came to know that there are three most important ways of preventive
punishment, they are as follows:
 By creating the fear of punishment.
 By disabling the criminal permanently or temporarily from committing any other
crime.
 By way of reformation or making them a sober citizen of the society.
Incapacitation Theory of punishment
Meaning:
The word “incapacitation” means ‘to prevent the offence by punishing, so that the future
generation fears to commit the criminal act.’ Incapacitation happens either by removing the
person from the society, either temporarily, or permanently, or by some other method,
which restricts him due to physical inability. One of the most common way of incapacitation
is incarceration of the offenders, but in case of severe cases, capital punishments are also
applied. The overall aim of incapacitation is preventing or restraining the danger in the
future.
Definition:
“Incapacitation refers to the restriction of an individual’s freedoms and liberties that they
would normally have in society.”
Purpose of Incapacitation Theory:
One of the primary purposes of this theory is removing the sufficiently dangerous persons
from the society. The risk that is found to be posed by the offenders are largely a matter of
inception. Therefore, if one country treats one offence in one way, another country will treat
the same offence in a different way. For example, in the U.S., they use incarceration to
incapacitate offenders at a much higher rate, than in other countries. It has been seen that
unlike the other theories of punishments like deterrence, rehabilitation and restitution, the
theory of incapacitation simply rearranges the distribution of offenders in the society so that
the rate of crime decreases in the society. The main aim of the theory of incapacitation is to
dissuade others from the offenders in the past, so that it is not followed by the future
generation.
Application of the theory:
The theory of incapacitation gets reserved only for those people who are either sentenced to
prison or to life imprisonment. Yet, it also includes things like being supervised by the
departments within the community, like probation and parole.
Origin:
The theory of incapacitation was originated in Britain, during the 18th and the
19th centuries, where the convicted offenders were often transported to places like America
and Australia. Later in the 21st century, the theory was changed to some extent, where the
offenders were to remain in the primary method of incapacitation which was found in most
of the contemporary penal systems. Therefore, the theory usually takes the form of
imprisonment, which is considered to be the best the form of incapacitation, rather than
other methods of incapacitation.
Compensatory Theory of punishment
Definition:
The main look out in the law of crimes is to penalize the criminal, and/or to seek his
reformation and rehabilitation with all the resources and goodwill available through the
Courts and other Governmental and non-Governmental organizations. It must be seen that
the criminals should get proper judgement for their crimes so caused and the harassment

caused to the victim and towards their family members and property. The victims in a crime
can be compensated on mainly two grounds, namely-
1. A criminal who had inflicted an injury against the person (or group of persons), or
the property must be compensated for the loss caused that has caused to the
victim, and
2. The State that has failed to provide safety towards its citizens, must receive
compensation for the loss caused.
Compensation is the true essence of deterrent, reformative and a necessary contribution of
retribution.
Reformative Theory of punishment
The idea of the Reformative Theory is hypothesis. As per this hypothesis, the object of
discipline ought to be the change of the crook, through the strategy for individualization. It
depends on the humanistic rule that regardless of whether a wrongdoer perpetrates a
wrongdoing, he doesn’t stop to be a person. In this way, an exertion ought to be made to
change him/her during the time of his/her detainment. For example, he may have executed
bad behaviour under conditions which may never happen again. Hence an effort should be
made to transform him during the hour of his confinement. The object of order should be to
accomplish the moral difference in the liable party. He ought to be told and perform some
craftsmanship or industry during the hour of his confinement with the objective that he may
have the alternative to start his life again after his conveyance from jail.
The Main Purpose Reformative Theory:
The reason for this hypothesis of discipline is to make the criminal languish over his bad
behaviour. Here the motivation behind the discipline is profoundly customized and rotates
around the mental outlet of the person in question or his family. The primary reason might
be accomplished to parole and probation, which have been acknowledged as current
procedures of improving the guilty parties all around the globe. Consequently, the backers
of this hypothesis legitimize imprisonment not exclusively to separate hoodlums and kill
them from society. Not many of the advanced reformative procedures of discipline are
essentially concocted for the treatment of guilty parties as per their mental attributes, for
example, probation, parole, uncertain sentence, exhortation and pardon. The reformative
techniques have demonstrated to be valuable in the event of adolescent misconduct, first
wrongdoers and ladies. Sex cases additionally appear to react well to the reformative
strategy for discipline. All the more as of late, the reformative hypothesis is in effect widely
utilized as a technique for treatment of intellectually denied wrongdoers.
Utilitarian Theory of punishment
The utilitarian hypothesis of discipline tries to rebuff guilty parties to debilitate, or “hinder,”
future bad behaviour. Under the utilitarian philosophy, laws ought to be utilized to amplify
the joy of society. Since wrongdoing and discipline are conflicting with bliss, they ought to
be kept to a base. Utilitarian’s comprehend that a wrongdoing-free society doesn’t exist, yet
they attempt to incur just as much discipline as is needed to forestall future violations.
The utilitarian hypothesis is “consequentialist” in nature. It perceives that discipline has
ramifications for both the wrongdoer and society and holds that the all-out great created by
the discipline ought to surpass the absolute malevolence. At the end of the day, discipline
ought not be boundless. One delineation of consequentialism in discipline is the arrival of a
jail detainee experiencing an incapacitating sickness. In the event that the detainee’s
demise is fast approaching, society isn’t served by his proceeded with restriction since he is
not, at this point fit for carrying out wrongdoings.
In a layman’s language, Punishment is an unpleasant imposition on a person as an outcome of their inappropriate or
unacceptable behavior in a society. In legal terms, it could be defined as the immediate outcome of illegal activity or
act done by a person.
Let us discuss some theories or types of punishment to understand it better.

1. Deterrent Theory is the first type that follows the policy of “an eye for an eye” or in simple terms, a
punishment is bestowed only for the sake of giving it. If you’ve done something wrong, you’re liable to
face the music. Now, there are subparts to this theory too. First is the specific deterrence where the
criminal is given the punishment to make them realize their mistake and educate them about it. The
second is general deterrence where it is done to avoid the further occurrence of crime.
2. Retributive Theory is the oldest theory of punishment where the punishment is given because they have
done a wrongful act and if not, then they should not be given any form of punishment. The drawback of this
punishment however is that it fails to identify certain crimes since it’s too stringent and thinks every crime
is either black or white.
3. Preventive Theory is more towards the stringent side where if an offender repeats the same crime would
be liable to lifetime imprisonment, exile, and even death penalty, depending on the seriousness/graveness of
the crime.
4. Reformative Theory comes from a very optimistic idea of “reformation”. The makers of this theory
believed that a person can be reformed to a much better version of themselves through various ways, finally
making them a good citizen of the country.
Now, let’s move on to the forms of punishment. In total, there are five forms of punishment:
5. Capital Punishment is the first-degree punishment that is bestowed upon those criminals who have
committed the biggest of the biggest crime. This is why it is also called the “rarest of the rarest
punishment”. The most recent case would be the four rapists in the Nirbhaya Case.
6. Imprisonment is the second form of punishment and most common one. It might extend to years and even
decades depending upon the severity of their crime.
7. Probation is a form of punishment where a person might not be sent to jail but is kept under strict
supervision. It could be camera monitoring or house arrest.
8. Fines is one of the lenient as well as stringent punishment depending upon the amount of fine imposed on a
person.
9. Restitution and Community Service are both a kind of reformative punishment where a person is asked
to contribute to society through food drives or working for some charity to help them become a better
person in society. If a person has committed a less grave punishment, then he might be asked to write a
sincere apology or letter which comes under restitution.
What Is Punishment?
Punishment refers to the infliction of penalty, castigation by the judicial arm of the state.
The purpose of punishment is not only to cause physical pain to the wrongdoer but also to
realize the gravity of the offence he has committed and to repent for the same. A person is
said to have been punished when some sort of pain is inflicted upon him.

Theories of Punishment
1. Deterrent:
Punishment is primarily said to be deterrent when its object is to show the futility of
crime and to teach the wrongdoer. According to this theory, the object of punishment
is to show that crime is never profitable to the offender. The idea behind this
punishment is to inflict exemplary sentence on the offender. It is just to create fear
in the minds of the offender so that they think thrice before committing any wrongful
act. It is a game of fear psychology only to deter the offender from committing
crime. However, this theory of punishment fails to achieve its goal when it comes to
hard-core criminals because they have no fear of punishment.
1. Preventive Theory:
If on one end the aim of deterrent theory is to create fear and to put an end to the
crime, on the other end is the preventive theory which aims at preventing crime by
disabling the criminal, for example, by inflicting death penalty on the criminal. Or by
confining him in prison.

Preventive mode of punishment works in three ways:
a. By inspiring all prospective wrong-doers with the fear of punishment.
b. By disabling the wrong-doer from committing any crime.
c. By transforming the offender by way of rehabilitation or by the process of
transformation and reformation so that the crime is not committed again.

2. Reformative Theory
According to this theory, a crime is usually committed as the result of conflict
between the character and motive of the criminal. It may be taken into consideration
that one may commit a crime either because the temptation of the motive is
stronger or because the restraint imposed by the character is weaker. Reformative
theory considers punishment to be curative more than to be deterrent. According to
this theory, crime is like a disease which cannot be cured by killing rather than curing
it with the medicine with the help of process of reformation.
1. Retributive Theory
Basically retribution means that the wrongdoer pays for his wrongdoing. However,
state considers it necessary to inflict pain upon the wrongdoer in order to prevent
vengeance. According to this theory, an evil should be returned for evil and an eye
for an eye and a tooth for a tooth which is deemed to be rule of natural justice. The
retributive theory ignores the causes of the crime, and it does not strike to the
removal of the causes. It is quite possible that the criminal is as much a victim of
circumstances as the victim himself might have been. This theory ignores that if the
vengeance is the spirit of punishment, violence will be a way of prison life.
Introduction
In a world which today notices an alarming increase in crime rates, the need to regulate the
domain of criminal justice system in every country is the need of the hour. Crime and
punishment have today formed a very crucial and delicate aspect of the society; it can no
longer be guided by customs and precedents. A fixed regime needs to be brought into force
and the subjective element needs to be reduced as much as possible. However a fact that
cannot be ignored that no fixed penalties can be induced over the accused because of it being
too harsh and too ignorant on the rights of the accused. The accused has the right to avail
certain basic human rights which the fixed penalty regime violates. Also, giving discretion to
the judges on deciding penalties will also result in violation of fundamental rights.
The article lies on the concept of bringing fairness and consistency while awarding sentences.
An underlying rationale can be adopted, a significant improvement to the existing. A balance
between the rights of both the victim needs to be achieved before defining a sentencing policy.
The Indian criminal justice delivery system lacks a pronounced sentencing policy as in the
countries of the United States and United Kingdom. The article also opines that certain
principles and policies need to introduce at the part of the legislature, to introduce a certain
level of coercive power to stand strong on its rights and also international obligations.
The article describes the current sentencing policy in India, the rationales and goals of
sentencing, the nature and role of aggravating and mitigating factors, the sentences awarded
to various types of crimes and offenders. It also takes into consideration the role of sentencing
policy after the trial has been done.

Principles of criminal justice
Every society exists on a certain amount of social control, and a particular moral ethical
rationale underlying it. The concept of social control is guided by the principles of justice.
When a person portrays a certain type of deviation from this prescribed mode of behaviour,
a social habit or rule, he is inflicted with a certain type of penalty. This infliction will vary from
society to society and deviation to deviation. The kind infliction or punishment will depend on
both the crime committed and the society. Some societies are concerned only abou t the
victim, whereas some are concerned about reforming the convict rather than punishing. This
schematic adopted by a country to punish its offenders can be termed as its sentencing policy.
The sentencing policy reflects the measure of judgement and the rationale, the society has
for a certain crime. It is the primary rationale guiding the criminal justice delivery system of
a country. Sentencing guidelines can be considered as a formula for calculating what is right
for a particular crime. This article is not focused about the type of crime but on the type of
punishment and the generality it possesses in a criminal justice system.
Punishment and sentencing though form a union at the end, but are distinct entities and are
often confused with each other. They are often used interchangeably and lead to
contradictions. Operationalization of the punishment is the sentencing policy. A sentence
does the work of stating and defining the punishment stated in the law of land. Sentences
are judgements containing punishments for criminal matters. As nouns, sentence and
punishment mean that where the former stands for opinion the latter stands for imposition,
infliction of penalty.
In India there lies a huge inconsistency and disparity while deciding the punishment and
awarding a sentence for a particular offence. For example, punishment for the following
offences under the Indian penal code are-
Murder
 Whoever commits murder shall be punished with death, or [imprisonment for life],
and shall also be liable to fine.
 Whoever commits culpable homicide not amounting to murder shall be punished
with [imprisonment for life], or imprisonment of either description for a term which
may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine, if the act by which the
death is caused is done with the intention of causing death, or of causing such
bodily injury as is likely to cause death, or with imprisonment of either description
for a term which may extend to ten years, or with [a] fine, or with both, if the act
is done with the knowledge that it is likely to cause death, but without any intention
to cause death, or to cause such bodily injury as is likely to cause death.
Theft
The punishment for theft is up to three years’ imprisonment, a fine, or both.
If you want to read more about theft – Click Here
Rape
Any person committing the offence of rape shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment for
a term which shall not be less than ten years, but which may extend to imprisonment for
life, which shall mean imprisonment for the remainder of that person’s natural life, and shall
also be liable to fine. After the Nirbhaya case, a juvenile can also be tried as an adult
depending upon the circumstances of the case.
A pattern noteworthy while looking at the punishments prescribed under the penal code is
that all the crimes have a certain minimum and a certain maximum punishments. There is no

fixed penalty for a particular sort of offence. The gap between the maximum and the minimum
punishments affects the sentencing regime in the criminal law majorly. The wide gap between
this the focus area of judges while awarding sentences. They exercise latitude of power while
deciding cases.
This discretion as to which case deserves the minimum and which case deserves the maximum
depends upon the discretion of judges. The judges in India take into account the various
factors guiding the case like severity, liability, guilty mind and then award a sentence. This
sentence seems wholly an end product of the judge’s mind, his personal prejudices and
considerations. This process of application of a judge’s discretion while awarding a sentence
to the offender is out rightly reflected in the criminal code under section 354 clause
(1)(b) which says that a judge while awarding a sentence must record the reasons which led
him to the decision, also in clause 3 of the same section it is stated that when the sentence
concerns itself with death or imprisonment for life special reasons must be laid down . The
law in response to above mentioned , while deciding the case and justifying their standpoint
on the sentence awarded, gave rise to certain logics like those of aggravating and mitigating
circumstances. Aggravating circumstances or factors are those which increase the severity of
the crime. While mitigating circumstances are those which decrease the severity of the crime.

Unit 4
Imprisonment
Imprisonment is the word which means taking away the freedom of prisoners when they are
punished by a court of law. They are locked up in prison and all the rights are taken away
they are not given any rights which are under Article 21 or 32 of the Constitution of India.
They have to stay in jail till the end of the imprisonment given by the court of law before that
they are not allowed to be released from the jail.
Types of Imprisonment
1. Mandatory imprisonment- When any person commits a crime it becomes mandatory
to give him/her punishment for that crime because if the person who commits crime
are left with no punishment he will become dangerous to society it harms whole
public. This is the reason criminals are not kept free after he commits any crime
they have to face imprisonment.
2. Maximum sentences- The person who commits crime they got life imprisonment and
the duration of life imprisonment is decided by a court of law. The minimum life
imprisonment is 14 years but it can extend upto 30 years of life imprisonment.
3. Minimum life imprisonment- The minimum life imprisonment is for 14 years. It is
decided by the Supreme Court of India.
4. False imprisonment- Many times people unlawfully caught by the police and get
imprisonment because of false crime.
Life Imprisonment Meaning
Life imprisonment means the whole life in prison. Prisoners has to end up their life in prison.
They have no other options of release. According to the Supreme Court life imprisonment
means jail term for the prisoner for entire life.
 There will be no release before fourteen or twenty years of life imprisonment.
 The prisoner has no such right as to release.
 The period of life imprisonment cannot be reduced. It cannot be less than 14 years.
Under what cases life imprisonment can be granted under IPC?

The report is based on the punishment of imprisonment for life in the Indian Penal Code.
Itdeals with the sentence of imprisonment for life which is rigorous or simple. The State
Government has clarified the law on imprisonment for life in this report. This report is made
by the Law Commision of India for the clarification of law. According to this report, the
offences under Indian Penal Code have come into effect in the year 1956 on 1st of january.
And the Code of Criminal Procedure came into Existence in the year 1955. After this report
two old laws were replaced namely punishment of transportation for life
Purpose of Imprisonment
There are five purposes of Life imprisonment:
1. Punishment: when any person commits a crime, they are punished by a court of
law then put in the jail that deprives them of all their freedom and removes them
from their society. Punishment may change the person into a good person and
return their fundamental freedoms and also give them a chance to live in society
freely with their family members. Sometimes it also provides them work so they
again, don’t commit a crime. So punishment is important for the criminals.
2. Deterrence: deterrence is another type of punishment for the offenders so that they
don’t repeat their crime again because punishment teaches values to the offender
and give them an opportunity to change themselves and transform them into a law-
abiding citizen.
3. Public protection: when any person commits big crime like murder or rape, they have
to face life imprisonment as ordered by the judge. This is the only reason we can
protect the public from these criminals.
4. Rehabilitation: rehabilitation means when a prisoner is ready to accept the crime he
has committed and take some necessary steps to change themselves in that case the
government chooses to give them an opportunity, in prison itself, to change.
5. No other choice: after committing crime prisoner have no choice of release they have
to face imprisonment.
6. Mahatma Gandhi
7. Prison
8. A prison is a place of accommodation for the people who have committed a crime and
are undergoing trial for the commission of any offense mainly criminal in
nature.According to section 3(1) of the prisoners Act, 1894,‘Prison’ means any place
used under the general or
Special orders of State Government for the detention of prisoners, and includes all land and
buildings appurtenant thereto.[1] Prisons in India, their administration is a state subject
covered by item 4 of the state list in the seventh schedule of the Constitution of India. The
management and administration of prisons purely come under the authority of state
Government along with the Prisoners Act 1894 and also the Prison Manuals of the concerned
State Government.
The Central Government provides various rules and guidelines to the State
Government regarding proper administration as well as ensuring safety and security in the
prisons . Hon’ able Supreme Court of India , in its various judgments covering prison
administration, has enumerated 3 broad principles for the proper administration of prisons in
India. It includes:
 A person inside a prison does not become a non-person
 A person is entitled for the enjoyment of all kinds of human rights within the
limitations of imprisonment

 There is no justification for the aggravating the suffering already inherent in the
process of incarceration[2] .
 Supreme Court has also looked into various matters inside prisons such as
overcrowding, lack of proper medical care and other facilities for the prison inmates,
lack of free legal aid available for them which is provided under the provisions of the
Constitution of India.
 Prison administration in India
 We all know that crime rate in India is increasing at a rapid pace. But there are no
adequate facilities in various prisons in our country to accommodate such person at
least by providing facilities for a decent living inside the prisons. Even though there
are certain rules and guidelines regarding prison system and administration, many of
them are not enforced properly due to the prevailing condition of prisons in India.
Various surveys state that around 80% of the prisoners are under trial prisoners, and
the balance 20% includes people who are convicted of various offenses as well as
women prisoners. The present condition of many of the prisons is that the prison
authorities are unable to meet requirements of the prisoners. In the light of such
situation, it can be stated that it leads to an infringement of the fundamental rights
of prisoners to a great extent.
While going through judgments on various cases in connection with prison administration,
we understand a common fact that in such cases, prisoners have undergone various ill
treatments and negligence from the part of the prison authorities. One among such cases
are Neena Rajan Pillai v. union of India[3], wherein Mr. Rajan Janardhan Mohandas pillai,
who was one of the famous businessmen in Singapore, Died when he was undergoing
judicial custody at the Cental Jail of Tihar. In this case, Court was of a view that there is a
clear case of violation of fundamental rights for the deceased from the part of prison
authority, and it lead to the death of the deceased. The court also stated that during such
situations wherein urgent medical assistance is required for the prison inmates, necessary
arrangements may be made without any delay or else it may lead t o an infringement of the
right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution
Various committees were formulated by the Government in order to look after the matters
inside prisons such as All India Committee for jail reforms, The mulla Committee and The
Krishna Iyer Committee, which looked into the reforms and rehabilitation of prisoners as well
as for the proper administration in prisons.
Rights for prisoners
As India is a democratic country, each and every person is entitled to certain fundamental
rights depending upon the nature of his living. As far as the prisoners are concerned, they are
denied of certain rights available to other citizens in our country. But there are certain other
rights exclusively for prisoners which include[4]:
 Right to speedy trial
 Right against solitary confinement, handcuffing and bar fetters and protection from
torture
 Right to meet relatives, friends and consult legal practitioner of his choice
 Right to reasonable wages in prison
 Right to expression
 Right for reasonable health care

The Act
Looking into the Prisoners Act,1894, Chapter 2 deals with the maintenance and officers of
prison. It states that there must be a superintendent,medical officer, jailer and other such
officers if there is a necessity. There must be an Inspector General in every prison to discharge
various functions directed by the State. Chapter 4 of the Act purely deals with admission
and removal of prisoners. The Act states that after conviction, the person must undergo
thorough checking by the prison officer along with a proper medical check up by the medical
officer. Act lays down various provisions for the medical checkup of prisoners. They must be
undergone through proper medical checkup, and if found sick, proper attention has to be
taken by the authorities.
Chapter 5 of the Act deals with discipline of the prisoners . It states that male and female
prisoners, convicted and under trail prisoners shall be kept separately. Prisoners who are
convicted for a death sentence must be separated from all others. But due to the overcrowding
of prisons, many of the guidelines are not abled to follow by the prison authorities[5].
Rehabilitation for prisoners
As our criminal Justice administration system purely focuses on a deterrent way of handling
crimes as well as criminals. It focuses on such penal approach wherein the punishment for a
crime must be a warning to the society and also it must provide some sort of reformative
policies to the society. In such a context various rehabilitative mechanism which can be
adopted in the prisons helps the prisoners to make changes in the character and attitude and
also be aware of the impact of the crime committed by them in the society. Rehabilitation
may be done in many ways such as:
 Conducting various awareness programs for the prisoners on a periodic basis
 Conduct various counseling classes for them so that their mental condition changes
positively
 Conducting various entertainment programs inside the prison premises
 Conducting classes on social issues so that prisoners will be aware of what is happening
outside the walls of prison
 Increasing the skills of prisoners by arranging various small scale ventures and events
inside the prison
 Changing the atmosphere of the prisons into a friendly environment by avoiding
various kinds of torture and third-degree measures.
Conclusion
Prison and prison administration plays an inevitable role in the criminal justice administration
system in India. Various criminologists have stated that no one in this world born as criminal,
but his economical and social backgrounds make him a criminal. In the light of such views, it
has to be stated that the prisoners as well as the prison administration has to be changed in
such a way that they should not feel isolated in this society, and there must be a hope in their
mind that they also can change themselves and be a part of development in their society.
Proper food, shelter, health care treatment and other such basic necessities must be fulfilled
by the concerned prison authorities in order to make the prisoners a productive group of the
society after their period of incarceration.
What is the Status of Prison Administration in India?
 The administration of prisons is a crucial part of the criminal justice system. In the past century, the
way society views convicts has undergone a fundamental shift.

 With a shift in the way society views jail and convicts, the previous penal system, which involved
forcibly confining inmates and depriving them of their freedoms as a form of punishment, has been
altered.
 It is now regarded as a correctional or improvement centre, which shows that reforming criminals is
given more priority than punishing them.
Structure of the Criminal Justice System in India:
 The government organisations that uphold the law, decide on criminal cases and deter illegal
behaviour make up the Indian Criminal Justice System. Prison reforms works in connection with
this.
 There are four of them:
1. Legislature (Parliament)
2. Enforcement (Police)
3. Adjudication (Courts)
4. Corrections (Prisons, Community Facilities)
Issues Related to Prison in India
Following are some serious issues with the jail system that the Supreme Court cited in the Ramamurthy v. State of
Karnataka judgement.
Overcrowding:
 India has several overcrowded jails, with institutions built to house a specific number of inmates
being crammed to the jails.
 The prisoners’ resources are impacted by the overcrowding. It primarily has to do with the various
prisoner classes.
 For instance, it was claimed in 2020 that more than 15,000 offenders were housed in Delhi’s Tihar
Jail, which has a capacity of about 7,000 inmates.
Under-trials:
 Indians make up a disproportionately large portion of those in prison awaiting sentencing.
 Additionally, according to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB)-Jail Statistics India, trial
prisoners make up 67.2% of the entire prison population in India, which leads to unusual
circumstances where undertrials serve longer sentences than they would have if a trial had taken
place.
 For instance, 67 percent of offenders in India, 20 percent of criminals in the United States, and 11
percent of criminals in the United Kingdom are awaiting trial.
Pendency of Cases:
 According to records from 2022, there are currently over 4.7 billion cases pending in Indian courts
at all levels of the legal system.

Shortage of staff:
 The prison reforms are really understaffed and underfunded, and this causes violence, a lack of
security, and other criminal activity inside jails since there is insufficient oversight.
 According to the Prison Act of 1894 and the Prisoner Act of 1900, each jail is required to have a
welfare officer and a law officer, but these positions have not yet been filled.
 For instance, the ratio of inmates to prison staff in India is roughly 1:7, but in the UK, there are two
guards for every three inmates.
 One guard was reportedly assigned to every 100 inmates at the Puzhal Central Prison in Chennai, Tamil
Nadu, in the year 2020.
Condition of women prisoners:
 Women prisoners confront a number of difficulties, including inadequate dietary intake, poor sanitation and
hygiene, and certain instances of custodial rape in which victims are pressured to remain silent. In 2018,
there were 19,242 women incarcerated in Indian prisons
Instances of torture and sexual abuse:
 Prisoners are occasionally subjected to violent altercations, indignable bodily pain, and cruel
psychological torment.
 Custodial violence is the “worst type of excesses by public personnel entrusted with the task of law
enforcement,” according to the National Human Rights Commission. There were 6,623 inmates
with mental diseases in prison as of 2018.
Prison inmates living with infectious diseases:
 According to case studies done at several jails in India, offenders were exposed to infectious
diseases including HIV and tuberculosis while incarcerated, endangering the general public.
Colonial Nature and Obsolete Laws:
 The Indian criminal justice system was created with the intention of governing the country during
British colonial rule, both in terms of substance and procedure.
 Given this, it is questionable if certain rules from the 19th century still apply in the modern era.
Committee and suggestions on Prison Reforms
The following are the various suggestions
All India Committee on Prison Reforms Report (Mulla Committee)
 Making proper accommodations for items like clothing, hygiene, food, and ventilation can help the
state of jails around the nation.
 The personnel at the prison needs to have the proper training and be divided into various cadres. To
hire jail staff nationwide, it would make sense to create an All-India Service named the Indian
Prisons and Correctional Service.

 Regular visits by the public and the media to prisons and other correctional facilities are necessary so that
they can learn firsthand about the conditions inside and demonstrate their willingness to collaborate with
prison administrators on rehabilitation initiatives.
 The number of prisoners awaiting trial should be maintained to a minimal and separated from those who
have already been found guilty.
 Because undertrials make up a significant proportion of the prison population, their numbers can be
reduced through expedited trials and the liberalization of bail provisions.
 The government should try to give enough funding and resources for prison reforms.
 It was advised that open jails akin to the Sanganer open camp in Rajasthan be established and
developed by the government in each state and UT.
It was also advised that lifers with a positive prognosis be sent to semi-open and open prisons.
Recommendations of Law Commission of India in its 268th report of Prison Reforms:
 The Commission suggested that persons arrested for crimes carrying sentences of up to seven years
in prison be freed after serving one-third of that time and those accused of crimes carrying lengthier
sentences be released after serving half of that time.
 Additionally, it was advised that the magistrates should not issue mechanical remand orders and that
the police should avoid making unnecessary arrests
Justice Amitava Roy Committee Prison reform recommendations:
 Amitava Roy, a former judge of the Supreme Court, will serve as the chairman of the three-person
committee that the Supreme Court established in 2018 to study jail reforms nationwide and give
suggestions on a variety of issues, including prison overpopulation.
 It suggested that special fast-track courts be established to handle only minor offences that had been
outstanding for more than five years.
 Additionally, those who have been charged with minor crimes and have been granted bail but are
unable to secure surety should be freed on a Personal Recognizance (PR) Bond.
 Establishing a national mission for legal reforms and justice delivery.
The Krishna Iyer Committee on Prison Reforms
 The Justice Krishna Iyer Committee was established by the Indian government in 1987 to evaluate
the conditions of women prisoners there.
 Due to their special role in dealing with women and child criminals, it has argued for the
recruitment of more women into the police force.
 The National Expert Committee on Women Prisoners, presided over by Justice V. R. Krishna Iyer,
delivered its report to the government in February 1988.
Steps Taken by Government of India for Administration of Prison Reforms in India:
The state governments and various union territories were asked to implement modifications by the Indian
government in order to ensure proper implementation of the Measures for Prison Reforms.
Such recommendations have occasionally been made in the prison manuals of various states. The recommendations
or measures for prison reform are as follows:
 To appoint Review Committees for the under-trial prisoner population at the state and district levels.
 To hire part-time or full-time law officers in prison and give legal help to impoverished and
vulnerable prisoners

 To closely abide by the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 rules regarding the allotted amount of
time for an investigation and inquiry
 Creating a time-bound strategy for enhancing the living conditions of convicts with a focus on water
supply, sanitary facilities, and electrical and submitting it to the Ministry of Home Affairs for
approval (MHA)
 To create a State Board of Visitors to regularly inspect prisons and provide the State Government with a
report on their conditions
4.4 Prisons Reforms
Introduction:
Punishing the offenders is a primary function of all civil societies. Detainment facilities are known to have existed all
through the history. Presence of penitentiaries can be followed back to the old time frame. It was trusted that thorough
disconnection and custodial measures would change the guilty parties. Experience, nonetheless, gave a false
representation of this desire and regularly detainment had the contrary impact. With the advancement of social
sciences, it started to federalize that renewal of guilty parties was impractical by confinement alone.
The existence of prisons can be traced back to the ancient period. Initially there was a belief that rigorous isolation
and custodial measures would reform the offenders. In due course it is being substituted by the modern concept of
social defence.
Call for Prisoners Reforms at International Level:
The prior United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, 1955 consists of five sections
and ninety-five principles. Section 1 gives guidelines to general applications. It pronounces that there will be no
‘discrimination on grounds of race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin,
property, birth or other status. In the meantime there is a strong requirement for regarding the religious conviction
and moral statutes of the gathering to which a prisoner belongs. The standard principles give due consideration to
the separation of the diverse categories of prisoners. It shows that people be kept in partitioned institutions. The
under-preliminary prisoners are to be kept separate from convicted prisoners. Further, it advocates finish separation
between the prisoners kept under common law and criminal offenses. The UN standard Minimum Rule additionally
made it mandatory to give isolate home to youthful and youngster prisoners from the grown-up prisoners. Joined
Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, 1990 or Tokyo Rules (gone by General Assembly
Resolution 45/110 on 14 Dec, 1990) went for implementation of non-custodial measures as an option in contrast to
strict imprisonment.rs, 1955 consists of five sections and ninety-five principles. Section one gives guidelines to
general applications. It pronounces that there will be no ‘discrimination on grounds of race, color, sex, language,
religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. In the meantime there is a
strong requirement for regarding the religious conviction and moral statutes of the gathering to which a prisoner
belongs. The standard principles give due consideration to the separation of the diverse categories of prisoners. It
shows that people be kept in partitioned institutions. The under-preliminary prisoners are to be kept separate from
convicted prisoners. Further, it advocates finish separation between the prisoners kept under common law and
criminal offenses.
The UN standard Minimum Rule additionally made it mandatory to give isolate home to youthful and youngster
prisoners from the grown-up prisoners. Joined Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, 1990
or Tokyo Rules (gone by General Assembly Resolution 45/110 on 14 Dec, 1990) went for implementation of non-
custodial measures as an option in contrast to strict imprisonment.
Prisoners Reforms: Prior independence and Post-independence
The modern prison system in India was originated by TB Macaulay in 1835. A committee namely Prison Discipline
Committee, 1836 was appointed, which submitted its report on 838. The committee recommended increased
rigorousness of treatment while rejecting all humanitarian needs and reforms for the prisoners. Following the
recommendations of the Macaulay Committee between 1836-1838, Central Prisons were constructed from 1846.
The contemporary Prison administration in India is thus a legacy of British rule. It is based on the notion that the
best criminal code can be of little use to a community unless there is good machinery for the infliction of
punishments. In 1864, the Second Commission of Inquiry into Jail Management and Discipline made similar
recommendations as the 1836 Committee. In addition, this Commission made some specific suggestions regarding
accommodation for prisoners, improvement in diet, clothing, bedding and medical care
Accordingly, the Government of India appointed the All India Jail Manual Committee in 1957 to prepare a model
prison manual. The committee submitted its report in 1960. In 1957, the Eighth Conference of the Inspector

Generals of Prisons also supported the recommendations of Dr. Reckless regarding prison reform. The report made
forceful pleas for formulating a uniform policy and latest methods relating to jail administration, probation, after-
care, juvenile and remand homes, certified and reformatory school, borstals and protective homes, suppression of
immoral traffic etc. The report also suggested amendments in the Prison Act 1894 to provide a legal base for
correctional work.
Central Bureau of Correctional Services:
The foundation of a Central Bureau of Correctional Services at the Central level in 1961 (renamed as the National
Institute of Social Defense in 1975) was yet another important improvement. This was the primary Central
organization to embrace explore, preparing, documentation and so forth, in social guard and help and exhort the States
on issues identifying with social safeguard.
Mulla Committee:
In 1980, the Government of India set-up a Committee on Jail Reform, under the chairmanship of Justice A. N. Mulla.
The essential goal of the Committee was to audit the laws, standards and regulations keeping in see the general goal
of ensuring society and restoring offenders. To constitute an All India Service called the Indian Prisons and
Correctional Service for the enrollment of Prison Officials. After-care, rehabilitation and probation ought to constitute
an essential piece of prison benefit. The Mulla Committee presented its report in1983.
Krishna Iyer Committee:
In 1987, the Government of India delegated the Justice Krishna Iyer Committee to attempt an examination on the
situation of women prisoners in India. It has prescribed induction of more womens in the police force in perspective
of their uncommon job in handling womens and kid offenders.
Reform in Prison Labour Scheme
The objectives of ‘prison labour’ have varied from time to time. The Indian Jail Reforms Committee of 1919-20
recommended that the main objective of prison labour should be the prevention of further crime by the reformation
of criminals, for which they were to be given instruction in up-to-date methods of work enabling them to earn a
living wage on release. The other objectives were to keep the offenders use fully engaged to prevent mental damage
and to enable them to contribute to the cost of their maintenance
Work was allotted to prisoners on the basis of their health, length of sentence prior knowledge of a trade, and the trade
which was most likely to provide a living wage on release. After independence, punitive labour such as extraction of
oil by manual labour was abolished and more useful programmes were introduced Co train offenders as technicians.
Some effort has also been made during the last three decades to train prisoners largely drawn from among agriculturists
in modern methods of agriculture and animal husbandry but, for want of land, only limited progress could be made in
this direction.
Initially, payment of wages to prisoners was opposed on the ground that they were already a burden on the State.
Gradually, the need for providing some motivation to prisoners was realized and it was considered that some
monetary reward would develop interest in work and provide the necessary incentive, more so if the prisoner was
allowed to use the earnings on himself or his family. After independence, in some of the open prisons, prisoners are
paid wages at market rates out of which they pay to State their cost of maintenance. There is now a growing
realization that such liberal system of wages would provide greater incentive for higher and better production
Maharashtra was the first State to introduce in 1949 a very comprehensive system of wages. The Apex Court in State
of Gujarat & another v. Hon’ble High Court of Gujarat (AIR 1998 SC 3164) observed, “Reformation and rehabilitation
is basic policy of criminal law hence compulsory manual labour from the prisoner is protected under Art. 23 of the
Constitution. Minimum wages must be paid to prisoners for their labour after deducting the expenses incurred on
them”.
WHY PRISON REFORMS?
A sentence of life detainment denies a man from his entitlement to freedom. Detainment influences the detainee and
furthermore his family living in poverty. When a salary producing individual from the family is detained the entire
family needs to endure and acclimate to the loss of pay. The family needs to endure monetary misfortune since they
need to draw in a legal counselor, organize nourishment for the detainee, transport to jail to visit the jail and so forth.
Jails have intense wellbeing suggestions. There are a few detainees who are experiencing different ailments
previously entering to the jail or they get affected in the wake of coming in the jail
Subsequently there is no sound air in the jail. It is stuffed, there is no outside air, nonappearance of legitimate and
nutritious nourishment and so forth. Detainment disturbs connections and debilitates social union, since the support
of such union depends on long haul connections. At the point when an individual from a family is detained, the
disturbance of the family structure influences connections between mates, and also among guardians and kids,

reshaping the family and network crosswise over ages. Mass detainment delivers a profound social change in
families and networks.
Considering the above contemplations, it is basic to take note of that, while thinking about the expense of
detainment, account should be taken not just of the genuine subsidizes spent on the upkeep of every detainee, which
is typically altogether higher than what is spent on a man condemned to non- custodial authorizations, yet in
addition of the circuitous costs, for
Example, the social, financial and human services related costs, which are hard to quantify, yet which are massive
and long haul. The span of the pre-trial detainees is higher than that of the indicted detainee. Pre-trial Confinement
period is the most open time frame for the maltreatment of criminal equity process. Although pre-trial prisoners
ought to be presumed blameless until discovered liable by an official courtroom, and regarded all things considered,
conditions in pre-trial. Detainment are frequently much more awful than those of jails for indicted detainees.
Suggestions:
 It ought to be understood that if imprison benefits in regard of reformative plans are enhanced and
offices given, they can complete a vital valuable activity of recovery. Formative exercises of the jail
office, especially in regard of welfare and creation, ought to be joined in the five year designs.
 The requirement for presenting radical changes in lawful and managerial systems to forestall long
confinement of under preliminaries has been pushed. Lawful guide to penniless detainees is likewise
being given due significance. There is subsequently a reasonable pattern to decrease the quantity of
under preliminaries and to speed up their preliminary in acknowledgment of their human rights.
 After-care for detainees will accept more noteworthy significance when correctional programs in
penitentiaries are authorized legitimately. Both deliberate and statutory after-care should be composed in
future.
Conclusion:
Research into crime and the criminal is still in its infancy. The immediate need of research is to evaluate the existing
methods of treatment and to suggest new approaches to the prevention of crime. By using the non-custodial measures
regarding the reformation of prisoners, it does not mean that the value of custodial measures has been undermined.
The application of non-custodial measures only can be used by considering some facts, like nature of offence which
the prisoner has been committed and age of the prisoners. The value of probation, open prisons, parole and home leave
as reformatory measures need to be established.
Overview of Model Prison Manual 2016
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has approved a new model prison manual, which aims to bring in
uniformity in rules and regulations governing the administration of prisons and the management of
prisoners all over India.
Key revisions in the new Prison Manual include:
Access to free legal services
A new chapter on legal aid (Chapter XVI) has been incorporated in the Model Manual. Article 39A of the
Constitution calls for free legal aid to the poor and weaker sections of society and seeks to ensure justice
for all. The additions include:
1. Appointment of jail visiting advocates;
2. Setting up of a legal aid clinic in every prison;
 Legal literacy classes in prisons;
1. Constitution of under-trial review committee and provisions to ensure legal services for
under-trial prisoners who have undergone half of the maximum sentence for that offence.
Additional provisions for women prisoners
1. Comprehensive health screening for women prisoners, including tests to determine presence
of sexually transmitted or blood-borne diseases, mental health concerns, existence of drug
dependency, etc.
2. Sensitising the staff and imparting training relating to gender issues and sexual violence;
 Educating women about preventive health-care measures;
1. Enabling proper counselling and treatment for those suffering from psychological disorders;
2. Focussed after-care and rehabilitation measures to ease women’s re-integration into society;

3. Restrictions on certain kinds of punishments being awarded to women, for instance,
punishment by close confinement should not be awarded to pregnant women, women with
infants, etc.;
 Counselling programmes focussed on women, especially those who have been victims of
abuse and focus on removing any further damage that imprisonment may have on a female
inmate.
Provisions for children of women prisoners
1. Provisions for holistic development of children, including provision of food, medical care,
clothing, education, and recreational facilities;
2. Providing pre-natal and post-natal care to pregnant women offenders;
 Taking care of nutritional requirements of children and provision of clean drinking water;
1. Ensuring a well-equipped crèche and a nursery school for children to be looked after.
Rights of prisoners sentenced to death
These have been incorporated in new Chapter XII (Chapter XI of the 2003 Manual) and broadly include:
1. Provision of legal aid to prisoners sentenced to death at all stages, even after rejection of
mercy petitions;
2. Regular mental health evaluation for death row prisoners;
 Physical and mental health reports to certify that the prisoner is in a fit physical and mental
condition;
1. Procedure and channels through which mercy petitions are to be submitted;
2. Communication of rejection of mercy petitions;
3. Furnishing necessary documents, such as court papers, judgments, etc. to the prisoners;
 Facilitating and allowing a final meeting between a prisoner and his family.
Modernisation & Prison computerisation
Additions have been made to the Manual to encourage use of technology/ software systems where
possible, including introduction of a Personal Information System for recording information relating to
inmates.
Register required to be maintained by the prison authorities has also to be in an electronic form.
Installation of CCTV cameras in work sheds, kitchens, high security enclosures, main gate, etc. of prisons
to prevent violation of human rights.
Unit 5
5.1 Concept, Definition and Legislative Framework of Probation
Introduction
“Hate the crime and not the criminal”. You might have heard this a zillion times. This means
that we need to eliminate crime and for this the elimination of criminals is not required. The
Criminal Law in India is more into reforming offenders rather than punishing them. It is true
that punishment gives a sense of satisfaction to the society as well as to the victim, but this
does not reform the criminals. Especially in the cases of imprisonment, once the person is out
of prison, he is back to his old ways of infringement of rights. This is common in the cases of
youth criminals. Their minds are not mature and get diverted when engaged with several
criminals in jail.
Thus, instead of keeping the accused with hardened criminals in jail, the court may order
personal freedom on the basis of good behaviour. The court can also grant a supervision
period for the accused. The main aim behind the Probation of Offender Act, 1958 is to give
an opportunity to offenders to reform themselves rather than turning into hardened
criminals. Section 562 of the Code of Criminal Procedure,1898 (after amendment it stands
as Section 360 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973) provides that any person not below
twenty-one years of age who may have not been convicted for an offence for imprisonment
up to seven years or not convicted to death or imprisonment of life can be released on the
basis of probation for good conduct.
The Act is based on a reformative approach which has come over the yea rs from the
Doctrine of Deterrence. It has been observed that the offender’s readjustment in society
decreases after the release. They might also face problems while working with
professional delinquents. This creates an undesired impact on the convicted and his/her life

afterwards. The Probation of Offender Act, 1958 saves minor offenders from becoming
regular criminals. This is done by providing them with a chance to reform themselves rather
than getting into prison. The probation officer amicably reaches to the needs and difficulties
of the accused and tries to solve the problem. This is done for the person convicted of minor
crimes.
The Probation Officer is the key human being in the process of Probation management. He
contacts the Probationer directly. He is responsible for upholding the provisions of the
court’s probation order. He carries out two primary functions which consist of the Probation
offender presentence investigation and supervision of the offender. The Probation of
Offender Act, 1958 aims at providing the release of the accused if he has been found not
guilty of an offence not punishable with death or life imprisonment after due admonition. It
has been enacted to provide the offenders with an opportunity to prove that they can
improve their behaviour and can live in a society without harming them.
It is also to be kept in mind that reformation doesn’t always work. Sometimes the crimes are
so heinous and abhorrent and the criminals are so unrepentant that punishment of such
crimes is important. For some cases, reformation is not useful and punishment is best to
safeguard the society by locking them for life.
Scope and Background
The Act is a landmark in advancing the new liberal reform movement in the penology field.
It is the result of the recognition of the doctrine that criminal law is more about reforming
the individual offender than about punishing. Probation has its influence from the juvenile
justice system of “positivism” which has its development from the ideologies of the criminal
justice system. The origin of probation was traced in the early practices of the English law
and experienced development in the 19th century. However, the development of probation
began in the early twentieth century, when various countries like Europe and North
American began to initialize methods to reduce the consequence of severe punishments.
Imprisonment became the most common mode of penal sanction.
From early 1800 to the present date, probation has tried to reform, remake, remould the
offenders into honest, good and law-abiding citizens. In India, the main legal articulation to
the reformatory framework for the probation theory is found in procedural code. Later
the Children Act, 1908 additionally enabled the court to discharge certain guilty parties
waiting on probation because of their good conduct. The extent of arrangements of
probation law was expanded further by the enactment in 1923 resulting in the Indian Jails
Committees Report (1919-1920). In 1931 the Government of India arranged a Draft
Probation of Wrongdoers Bill and flowed it to the then Provincial governments for their
perspectives.
A Bill on Probation of Offenders was introduced in Lok Sabha on November 18, 1957. A Joint
Committee was formed to consider the Bill allowing for the release of prisoners on probation
or after proper admonition and related matters. On 25 February 1958, the Joint Committee
delivered its report to Lok Sabha. In Parliament, the Probation of Offenders Act was adopted
on the advice of the Joint Committee. Probation in India is used as an institutional method of
treatment. The western does not allow the use of institutional methods for probation. They
administer probation by voluntary organisations of sociologists and psychologists. They
consider that the judges should not interfere with this.
The Indian system says that the judiciary should solely vest in the probationary laws. This is
so because the power of probation will be vested upon the voluntary and extrajudicial agencies
which lack judicial methods and techniques. This would create a serious problem as these
organisations will have their own values and considerations. Sociologists and psychologists
will be concerned only upon the reformations of the offender and not the legal implication of
the reformative measure. Probation is subjected to judicial review under Article 226 of the
Indian Constitution which will eventually allow the judges to bring it under judicial scrutiny.

Aim and Objective of Probation
The main aim and objective of probation is to permanently reform the lawbreakers. It involves
moulding the habits into constructive ways by rehabilitation and reformation. The objective is
to give a chance to the anti-social person to willingly cooperate with society. This will also
give him social protection and security. It is a substitution for imprisonment. Imprisonment
will not always serve the purpose of eliminating crime. The object of Probation Law is more
to reform the offender than to punish him. This is what we generally call Probation. Simply,
it can be understood as the conditional release of an offender on the promise of good
behaviour
The aim of this Section was to reform the young offender who might have committed the
crime under the influence of bad company or ignorance. The object is to remould and save
them from the hardened criminals who might distract them to the path of crimes. This
Section also helps the persons of mature age who may have committed the crime in
influence. They are expected to be good citizens of the country.
Statutory provisions under the Act
The provision is broadly classified into procedural and substantive general laws dealing with
probation of the offenders.The first provision to deal with probation was in Section 562 of the
Code of Criminal Procedure,1898. After the amendment in 1973, the probation was dealt with
in Section 360 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. This Section says that if:
1. Any person who is not below twenty-one years and is convicted of a crime for which
the punishment is imprisonment for seven years or is convicted for an offence
punishable with fine.
2. Or any person who is below twe nty-one years or if any women convicted of an
offence not punishable with imprisonment of life or death and no previous
conviction is proved against the offender.
3. And appears before the court, regardless of the circumstances in which he has
committed the offence, the court might release the offender on the promise of good
conduct.
The court might release him on entering the bond for good conduct and peace instead of
punishing the offender with imprisonment. In this case of Jugal Kishore Prasad v. The State
of Bihar, the Supreme Court stated that the aim of the law is to deter the juvenile offenders
from turning into obdurate criminals as a result of their interaction with seasoned mature-age
criminals in case the juvenile offenders are sentenced to incarceration in jail. It is observed
that the Act is in accordance with the present trend of penology, which says that effect should
be made with accordance to change and remould the offender and not to retribute justice.
Modern criminal jurisprudence recognises that no one is born criminal. A good number of
crimes are a result of a socio-economic environment.
The Probation of the Offenders Act, 1958 excludes the application of Section 360 of the Code
of Criminal Procedure, 1973 whenever the Act is applied. Section 3 to Sec tion 12 of the
Probation of the Offender Act, 1958 deals with the procedures of the court to deal with the
release of the offenders. The important aspects of the provisions are discussed in five ways:
Admonition
Section 3 of the Probation of the Offenders Act,1958 deals with the power of court to release
the offender after admonition. An Admonition, in literal terms, means a firm warning or
reprimand. Section 3 says how the offender is benefited on the basis of admonition after
satisfying the following conditions:
 When any person is found guilty of committing an offence under Section
379 or Section 380 or Section 381 or Section 404 or Section 420 of the Indian

Penal Code,1860 or any offence punishable with imprisonment for not more than
two years, or with fine, or with both, under the Indian Penal Code, or any other law
 An offender should not previously be convicted for the same offence.
 The Court considers the nature of the offence and the character of the offender.
 The Court may release the offender on probation of good conduct applying Section
4 of the Act, instead of sentencing him.and,
 The Court may release the offender after due admonition, instead of sentencing him.
Probation on good conduct
Section 4 of the Probation of the Offenders Act,1958 talks about the release of the offender
on the basis of good conduct. It is a very important Section of the Act. The important points
that must be remembered for the application of this Section are:
 Section 4 of the Act is not applicable if the offender is found guilty of an offence
with death or imprisonment for life.
 The Court has to consider the circumstances of the case including the nature of the
offence and the character of the offender.
 The court may pass a supervision order to release the offender on probation of
good conduct. The supervisory period is not to be shorter than one year. The
probation officer must supervise the individual for such a span in such a situation.
In the supervisory order, the name of the probation officer should be listed.
 The Court can direct the offender to execute a bond, with or without sureties, to
appear and receive sentence when called upon during such period which should not
exceed a period of three years. The court may release the offender on good
behaviour.
 The Court may put appropriate conditions in the supervision order and the court
making a supervision order explain to the offender the terms and conditions of the
order. Such supervision order should forthwith be furnished to the offender.
 Probation officer’s report is not compulsory to enforce this rule, but if the information
is required on record, the Court shall take into account the probation officer ’s
information before granting a probation order for good behaviour.
Cost and compensation
Section 5 of the Probation of the Offenders Act, 1958 says that if any person is released under
Section 3 or Section 4 of this Act, even then the court might order:
 The offender to pay compensation to the victim for the loss or the injury occurred
to him. Or
 Cost of the proceeding as the court may think reasonable.
Offenders under 21 years of age
Section 6 of the Probation of the Offenders Act,1958 talks about the restriction on the imprisonment of
offenders under twenty-one years of age. This provision says that offenders who are under 21 years of
age are not sent to prison where the offence is not so serious as to warrant imprisonment for life or death.
Important points to be remembered before the application of Section 6:
In cases where the accused is below 21 years of age, the Court shall call for the report of the Probation
Officer. If the court’s opinion is not desirable with offender either on the ground of admonition (Section 3)
or on the ground of release on probation of good conduct (Section 4), the Court can pass sentence of
imprisonment on the offender who is under 21 of years ago but the Court cannot sentence him without
recording reasons for doing so. The Court has an obligation to see whether Section 3 or 4 of the Act

applies or not. For this purpose, the Court must call for the report of the Probation Officer. Therefore, the
report of the Probation Officer is mandatory when the offender is under 21 years of age.
The court considers the nature of ”he offence and the character, physical and mental condition of the
offender before making any decision.
It is difficult for the court to come to a conclusion whether Section 3 or Section 4 applies or not unless the
Court considers the report of the Probation Officer, therefore, the report of the Probation Officer is
mandatory under Section 6 of the Act.
On receiving a report, the Court peruses it and decides whether the offender can be released on
admonition or probation of good conduct or not.
After receiving the report, if the court orders that the offender shall not be released, applying Section 3 or
Section 4 of the Act, the Court can pass sentence to the offender recording the reasons for doing so.
Report of probation officers
Section 7 of the Probation of the Offenders Act,1958 deals with the clause that the report of
the probating officer is kept confidential. No Probation Officer’s report is necessary to apply
Section 4 of the Probation of Offenders Act but such report is must under Section 6 of
Probation of Offenders Act if the offender is under 21 years of age. However, if such a report
is available on the record, under Section 4 of the Act, the Court shall not ignore it and that
the Court shall take the report into consideration.
Salient features of the Act
The most important salient feature of the act is
1. The Probation of Offenders Act of 1958 is aimed at modifying novice prisoners by
rehabilitating them in the society and avoiding the progression of juvenile offenders
into obdurate criminals under environmental control by locking them in prison with
hardened criminals.
2. This seeks to release first offenders, following proper admonition or notice with advice
who are suspected to have committed an offence punishable under Section 379,
Section 380, Section 381, Section 404 or Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code and
even in case of any crime punishable with incarceration for not more than two years,
or with fine, or both.
3. The Act demands that the Court can order such compensation and the costs of the
prosecution for reimbursement by the accused as it finds fair for the damage or injury
to the victim.
4. This Act empowers the Court to free those prisoners on probation in good behaviour if
the crime supposedly perpetrated is not punishable by death or imprisonment for life.
He will, therefore, be kept under control.
5. The Act gives the Judge the right to modify the terms of the bail after a prisoner is
placed on probation with good behaviour and to prolong the probation period not to
exceed three years from the date of the initial order.
6. The Act offers extra protection for people under the age of twenty -one to prevent
sentencing him to prison. However, a person found guilty of a crime punishable by life
imprisonment can not have this clause.
7. The Act empowers the Court to grant a warrant of arrest or summons to him and his
guarantees compelling them to appear before the Court on the date and time stated
in the summons if the defendant placed on bail refuses to comply with the terms of
the bond.
8. Under the terms of this Act, the Act empowers the Judge to try and sentence the
defendant to jail. The High Court or any other Court may even make such an order
when the case is put before it on appeal or in revision.

9. The Act offers a significant function for probation officers to support the Court and
oversee the probationers under its supervision and to guide and support them in
seeking appropriate work.
10. The Act applies to India as a whole except for Jammu State and Kashmir. This Act shall
come into force in a State on such date as the Government of the State may designate,
by notice in the Official Gazette. It also gives state governments the right to put the
Act into force on multiple dates in different parts of the State.
The offence for which probation cannot be granted under the Act
There are certain cases in which the Probation of the Offender Act is not applicable. In normal
circumstances the Probation of the Offender Act is not applicable to:
 Section 409, 467 and 471 of the Indian Penal Code – these Sections deal with
breach of trust by public servants, forgery of valuable security and will and
documents used as a genuine forgery. In Rev vs By Adv. Sri
P.K.Ravisankar and State Of Gujarat vs V.A. Chauhan, on 3 February 1983, the
court did not grant release of the offenders on the basis of Section 3 and Section 4
of the Probation of the Offenders Act,1958.
 Probation of the Offenders Act,1958 does not grant the release on the grounds of
kidnap or abduction. In the case of Smt. Devki v. State of Haryana, AIR 1979 SC
1948 it was observed that Section 4 would not be extended to the abominable
culprit who was found guilty of abducting a teenage girl and forcing her to sexual
submission with a commercial motive.
 The Act refrains from providing release of habitual offenders. In the case
of Kamroonissa v. the State of Maharashtra, AIR 1974 SC 2117 , the appellant was
charged with the theft of gold. She was punished by rigorous imprisonment. She was
under 21 years of age. The probation officer thus requested the court to grant her the
release under Sections 3 and 4 of the probation of the offender’s Act. The court refused
the claim by addressing that the appellant had been engaging in various crimes before
and was arrested in 1971.
 Section 325 of the Indian Penal Code – This Section speaks about the violence that
causes grievous hurt. Thus, the Probation of the Offender Act does not provide a
release on this basis.
 State of Sikkim v. Dorjee Sherpa And Ors– In some cases, the Court does not take
technical views and should take into account certain considerations, such as the risk
of work losses, to invoke the provisions of the Probation of Offenders Act even in
serious offences. This was also argued that the Court would also take into account that
convicts belonging to middle-class families with no criminal record frequently become
victims of situations due to the unwelcome business and other negative forces
available to these young generations.
Pit-falls in Probation System in India
There are certain pitfalls in the probation system:
1. It is difficult in many situations to determine whether the criminal is a first offender
or a recidivist. There is, therefore, a possibility that an offender who is otherwise
recurrent may be admitted to probation and may not react favourably to this
technique of correction.
2. Section 4 of the Probation of Offenders Act, a main provision of the Act, does not
make it compulsory to supervise a person released on probation unless the court
orders release a person on probation after entering into a bond with or without
immunity. This is not in line with the probation philosophy whic h considers
supervision important to the offender’s interests

3. Section 6 of the Act allows the court to take into account the report of the probation
officer when it is appropriate to take a decision to grant or deny probation to an
offender under the age of 21, but many times court decisions are made without any
report. Again, this goes against the spirit of morality that is enshrined in the Probation
Act. This is basically because of the poor judiciary system.
4. The lack of real interest in social service among the probation personnel presents a
major problem in selecting the right persons for this arduous job.
Conclusion
The benefit of probation can be usefully applied to cases where persons on account of family
discord, destitution, loss of near relatives, or other causes of like nature, attempt to put an
end to their own lives. Its aim is to reform the offender and to make him see the right path.It
would be of great help to a country like India where the prisons are always overcrowded, with
regular abuses of human rights that will harden a person’s inside. Probation is the divine
affirmation inside every being and it has to be given importance.
In order to accomplish the ultimate purpose of reclaiming all criminals back into organized
society, the reform and recovery process must be carried out in the sense of the current
social situation. Along with the juvenile justice system, probation has taken the human
interests and socio-economic issues underlying the principles of crime and punishment to
the forefront. It also helped to build positive views towards prisoners and expanded the role
of enforcing criminal justice beyond standard sentencing.
5.2 Parole – Concept, Objectives and procedure for granting Parole
Why in news?
A convict in rape and murder cases, Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim
was released on parole by the Haryana government.
What is parole?
 The word parole is derived from the French phrase “je donne ma parole”,
which means “I give my word”.
 In Mohinder Singh case, parole has been defined as a conditional
release of a prisoner, generally under supervision of a parole officer,
who has served part of the term for which he was sentenced to prison.
Types of parole
 Custody Parole- It is granted in emergency circumstances like, death in
a family, the marriage of a family member, serious illness etc.
 Custody parole is of a limited time span of 6 hours .
 Regular Parole- It is allotted on certain grounds like
o Marriage, accident, death or illness in a family
o Delivery of child by the wife of the convict
o Severe damage to life or property of the family of convict due to
natural calamities
o Filing of a special leave petition by the convict or his family
 It is granted for a maximum period of 1 month.
What about the parole laws in India?
 The grant of Parole in India is administered by the rules made
under the Prison Act, 1894 and Prisoner Act, 1900.
 Each state in India has its own parole rules.

 Objectives of Parole Laws in India - The main objective as per Rule 1(A)
and 19 of Prisons (Furlough and Parole) Rules,1959 are
o For the prisoner to maintain continuity together with his family,
friends, and community
o For saving the prisoner from the harmful effects of continuous
prison life

o For the prisoner to develop a feeling of se lf-confidence that
there is a life beyond prison
o For helping the prisoner to develop a sense of hope and active
interest in his life
o For the rehabilitation of the prisoner
What is the procedure of obtaining Parole?
 A convict seeks parole and files a petition.
 Jail authority (Superintendent) collects the report including the case
history, behaviour in the prison, medical report, etc.
 The report is sent to the Deputy Secretary, Home (General), State
Government who decides on the application either acce pting or rejecting
it.
 In some states, it is sent to the Inspector General of the Prison,
which is further forwarded to the District Magistrate.
 The District Magistrate along with the consultation of the State
Government decides on either accepting or reje cting the application.
What is the eligibility for the grant of parole?
 Eligibility- According to the 2010 Parole/Furlough Guidelines,
o A convict must have served at least 1 year in jail, excluding any
time spent in remission.
o The prisoner’s behaviour had to be uniformly good.
o The criminal should not have committed any crimes/ broken any of
the terms and restrictions during the period of parole if it was
granted previously.
o A minimum of 6 months should have passed since the previous
parole was terminated.
 Convicts not eligible for Parole - Prisoners who
o Have been or are involved in criminal activities against the
state
o Are threats to national security
o Are not citizens of India
o Are convicted of multiple murders or for murder & rape of a child
or children
What is the difference between parole and furlough?
 The Supreme Court has clarified the difference between parole and
furlough in a number of decisions
 Parole Furlough
Awarded for short-
term detention
Allowed in long-
term detention

Lasts for 1 month
Lasts for a maximum
of 14 days
Divisional
Commissioner grants
parole
Deputy Inspector
General Prison
grants furlough
A specific
justification for
parole is necessary
Furlough is
intended to break
the monotony of
imprisonment
Parole can be given
multiple times
Furlough has a
limit
Parole is not a
matter of right and
may be denied to a
prisoner even when
he makes out a
sufficient case
Furlough is a
matter of right to
be granted
periodically
irrespective of any
reason
Parole is a temporary release of a prisoner before the completion of their
sentence, with certain conditions. The primary objectives include
rehabilitation, reintegration into society, and assessing the individual's
behavior outside of prison.

The procedure for granting parole typically involves a parole board or
similar authority reviewing the inmate's case. Factors considered include the
nature of the offense, the inmate's behavior in prison, and the likelihood of
successful reintegration. If approved, t he individual is released under
specific terms, such as regular check -ins, employment requirements, or
participation in rehabilitation programs. Violating parole conditions can
lead to reincarceration.
In India, parole is a legal concept governed by the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and is designed to
achieve several objectives within the realm of criminology:

**Concept:**
Parole in India refers to the temporary release of a prisoner from incarceration, allowing them to serve the
remainder of their sentence in the community under certain conditions. It is a mechanism to facilitate the
reintegration of offenders into society and assess their behavior outside of prison.

**Objectives:**
1. **Rehabilitation:** To provide an opportunity for prisoners to reform and rehabilitate themselves
through exposure to the community.
2. **Social Reintegration:** To ease the transition of offenders back into society, promoting their social
reintegration.
3. **Behavioral Assessment:** To observe and evaluate the behavior of the offender in a controlled
environment outside the prison.

**Procedure for Granting Parole:**
1. **Application:** The inmate typically initiates the process by submitting a parole
application to the prison authorities.

2. **Review by Parole Board:** A parole board or a similar authority reviews the application.
This board may consist of legal professionals, psychologists, and other relevant experts.

3. **Eligibility Criteria:** The parole board considers various factors, including the nature of
the offense, the inmate’s behavior in prison, and the likelihood of successful reintegration.
Serious offenses may have stricter criteria.

4. **Victim’s Input:** In some cases, the views of the victim or their family may be
considered during the parole review process.

5. **Conditions of Parole:** If approved, the parole order specifies the conditions the inmate
must adhere to during their release, such as regular reporting to the police, maintaining
employment, or attending rehabilitation programs.

6. **Duration:** The parole period is determined by the parole board and may vary based
on the nature of the offense and the individual circumstances.

7. **Monitoring and Supervision:** Law enforcement agencies typically monitor parolees to
ensure compliance with the specified conditions.

8. **Revocation:** Violating the conditions of parole can lead to its revocation, resulting in
the individual being returned to prison to serve the remaining sentence.

It’s important to note that the specifics of parole procedures may vary across different states and union
territories in India, as parole is administered at the regional level.
Problems of the Released Offenders and attitude of community towards them
**Problems of Released Offenders:**

1. **Stigma and Discrimination:** Released offenders often face societal prejudice and discrimination,
making it challenging to find employment, housing, or rebuild relationships.

2. **Limited Employment Opportunities:** Many employers are hesitant to hire individuals with a criminal
record, limiting the job prospects for released offenders and hindering their ability to reintegrate into
society.

3. **Financial Challenges:** Released offenders may struggle with financial instability, as their criminal
history can impede access to loans, housing, and other financial resources.

4. **Lack of Educational Opportunities:** Educational barriers may exist for released offenders, affecting
their ability to pursue further education and acquire new skills.

5. **Mental Health Issues:** The experience of incarceration and challenges post-release can contribute to
mental health issues, requiring support that may be insufficient or inaccessible.

6. **Limited Social Support:** Rebuilding relationships with family and friends can be difficult due to
strained ties during incarceration, leaving released offenders with limited social support.

7. **Substance Abuse Issues:** Some released offenders may face difficulties overcoming substance abuse
issues, exacerbating the risk of relapse into criminal behavior.

8. **Inadequate Reentry Programs:** Insufficient support and rehabilitation programs post-release can
hinder the successful reintegration of offenders into society.

**Attitude of Community Towards Released Offenders:**

1. **Stigmatization:** Communities may stigmatize released offenders, viewing them solely through the
lens of their past actions and making it challenging for them to reintegrate.

2. **Fear and Mistrust:** Fear of potential criminal behavior and a general mistrust of individuals with a
criminal history can lead to social isolation and exclusion.

3. **Employment Barriers:** Community members may be hesitant to employ released offenders,
contributing to unemployment and financial instability.

4. **Resistance to Reintegration:** Some individuals in the community may resist the reintegration of
offenders, advocating for stricter measures and limited opportunities for released individuals.

5. **Public Safety Concerns:** Concerns about public safety can lead to a lack of support for rehabilitation
efforts, with communities prioritizing punitive measures over reintegration.

6. **Lack of Rehabilitation Awareness:** Limited awareness about the importance of rehabilitation and the
potential for positive change in released offenders can contribute to negative attitudes.

7. **Legal Restrictions:** Legal restrictions and policies may perpetuate negative perceptions, making it
difficult for released offenders to overcome societal prejudices.

Addressing these challenges requires a comprehensive approach involving public awareness, policy
reforms, and community-based programs aimed at fostering understanding and supporting the successful
reintegration of released offenders.
Furlough – Conditions and Rules of Granting
Parole meaning
Parole means the release of a prisoner either temporarily for a special purpose or
completely before the expiry of a sentence, on the promise of good behaviour.
The word parole is derived from the French phrase “je donne ma parole”, which means “I
give my word”. Parole is the privilege given to the prisoners to return to the society and
socialise with families and friends. It requires periodic reporting to the authorities for a set
period of time. It is granted to that person who has already served a portion of his or her
sentence. It enables the prisoner to deal with family matters and develop a good life for him
or his family members.
Furlough meaning
Furlough is given in cases of long-term imprisonment. A prisoner’s sentence is considered to
be remitted during his furlough time.It is to be allowed on a regular basis for no reason
other than to allow the prisoner to maintain familial and social relationships and to
counteract the negative consequences of long-term imprisonment. The right to be released
on furlough is a substantial and legal right of the prisoner, and it cannot be rejected if
permitted by law.
Types of parole
Regular parole
In all other cases, the government has the option of considering applications for regular
parole. The following are some of the grounds on which the prisoner’s applications may be
considered:
 A family member’s serious sickness.

 Family members are in a critical state as a result of an accident or the loss of a
family member.
 Marriage of any member of the convict’s family.
 Birth of a child by the convict’s wife if no other family member is available to care
for the spouse at home.
 Serious harm to the convict’s family’s life or property, including damage caused
by natural calamities.
 Maintaining social and familial relationships.
 To file a Special Leave Petition with the Supreme Court of India in response to a
High Court ruling convicting or upholding a conviction, as the case may be.
Emergency parole or custody parole
Custody parole can only be given in emergency events and circumstances, such a s the
death of a family member, the marriage of a family member, a family member’s major
illness, or any other emergency situation. During the custody parole, the prisoner must be
escorted to and from the location of visitation in order to ensure the prisoner’s safe custody.
Such inmates would be considered to be in prison for the duration of the sentence, and the
time would be counted as time spent in prison.
How parole and furlough are related to each other
The goal of both furlough and parole is to strike a balance between an offender’s rights and
the rights of society in order to prevent the inmate from causing more harm. Both are types
of conditional release, which means the offender must adhere to the terms of the order
authorising furlough or parole, such as reporting to a local police station at regular intervals.
If the competent authority believes that releasing the offender will be detrimental to
society, both parole and furlough might be denied.
Difference between parole and furlough
Serial
no.
Parole Furlough
1.
It is not a right of the
prisoner.
It is the right of the
prisoner.
2.
It is releasing a prisoner
with a suspension of
the sentence.
It is releasing a prisoner
with remission of his
sentence.
3.
In the case of short-
term confinement,
parole may be granted.
In the case of long-term
confinement, Furlough
may be granted.
4.
It can be granted a
number of times.
There is a limitation to
grant furlough.
5.
Parole lasts for one
month.
Furlough lasts for
fourteen days
maximum.
6.
A specific justification is
necessary.
It is to break the
monotony of
punishment so no
justification is needed.
7.
The days of leave
aren’t included within
the sentenced period.
The sentence of convict
goes along with the
furlough period.

8.
It is granted by the
Divisional
Commissioner.
It is granted by the
Deputy Inspector
General of Prisons.
Eligibility of grant of parole
1. The prisoner must have served at least one year in prison, in addition to the
period spent in remission.
2. The prisoner’s behaviour should be good.
3. The prisoner should not have committed any crime during his previous parole
period.
4. The previous parole should have been terminated a minimum of six months ago.
5. The convict should not have violated any of the terms and restrictions of his or
her previous release.
Instances of misuse of parole
The concept of parole has been highlighted by the judiciary and penologists to lessen the
challenges of prison life; however, whether parole truly serves a function or only serves as a
means of escape becomes a critical subject. In the following cases, there is clear evidence
of misuse.
Furlough, also known as leave or temporary release, is a short-term release of an inmate from prison with
specific conditions. The conditions and rules of granting furlough can vary by jurisdiction, but here are
some common aspects:

**Conditions of Furlough:**

1. **Good Behavior:** Inmates eligible for furlough typically need to demonstrate good behavior and
compliance with prison rules.

2. **Non-Violent Offenses:** Furlough is often granted to individuals serving sentences for non-violent
offenses, and those considered low-risk for escape or committing further crimes.

3. **Rehabilitation Goals:** The purpose of furlough is often tied to rehabilitation goals, allowing inmates
to maintain family ties, employment, or participate in treatment programs.

4. **Family Emergency or Special Occasions:** Furlough may be granted for family emergencies,
significant life events (such as a wedding or funeral), or to address critical personal matters.

5. **Residential Stability:** Inmates may need a stable and approved residence where they will stay during
the furlough period.

6. **Community Ties:** Furlough may be considered for individuals with strong community ties, as it is
believed that such connections contribute to successful reintegration.

**Rules of Granting Furlough:**

1. **Application Process:** Inmates usually initiate the furlough process by submitting an application to
the prison authorities.

2. **Review by Authorities:** Prison officials or a designated review board assess the inmate's application,
considering factors like the nature of the offense, behavior in prison, and the purpose of the furlough.

3. **Risk Assessment:** A risk assessment is often conducted to evaluate the likelihood of the inmate
violating the conditions of furlough or posing a threat to public safety.

4. **Duration and Specifics:** Furlough may be granted for a specific duration and purpose, and the
inmate is expected to adhere strictly to the conditions outlined in the furlough order.

5. **Monitoring:** In some cases, released inmates may be subject to monitoring, such as electronic
monitoring or regular check-ins with law enforcement.

6. **Revocation for Violation:** If the inmate violates the conditions of furlough, the release may be
revoked, and the individual could be returned to prison to serve the remaining sentence.

7. **Notification of Authorities:** Inmates on furlough are often required to notify authorities of their
whereabouts and any changes in their plans.

It's important to note that the specific rules and conditions for furlough can vary widely based on
jurisdiction, legal frameworks, and the policies of individual prison systems.
Unit 6
Grant of Pardon
In India, the power to grant pardons is vested in the President under Article 72 of the Constitution and in
the Governors of States under Article 161. Pardon can be granted in cases where a person has been
convicted of an offense. The President or Governor can exercise this power based on the advice of the
respective government. Pardon can be absolute or conditional, and it has the effect of completely
absolving the individual from the conviction and its consequences. However, it’s important to note that
the grant of pardon is discretionary and is typically considered in light of various factors, including the
nature of the offense and the individual’s conduct.
In India, the power of pardon is enshrined in the Constitution under Article 72 at the central level and
Article 161 at the state level.

**1. President's Pardon (Article 72):**
- The President of India has the authority to grant pardons, reprieves, respites, or remissions of
punishment or to suspend, remit or commute the sentence of any person convicted of any offense.
- The President can exercise this power on the advice of the Council of Ministers or independently,
based on information available or representations made.

**2. Governor's Pardon (Article 161):**
- Governors of States in India possess the power to grant pardons, reprieves, respites, or remissions of
punishment or to suspend, remit or commute the sentence of any person convicted of any offense
against the law relating to matters to which the executive power of the State extends.
- Similar to the President's power, the Governor can act on the advice of the Council of Ministers or
independently.

**Conditions and Types of Pardon:**
- Pardon can be absolute or conditional. An absolute pardon completely extinguishes the sentence and
its legal consequences. A conditional pardon imposes certain conditions on the convict, and violation of
these conditions may result in the revival of the original sentence.
- Factors considered in granting pardons include the nature of the offense, the conduct of the convict,
public interest, and humanitarian considerations.

**Procedure for Seeking Pardon:**
- Typically, individuals seeking a pardon submit petitions to the President or Governor through proper
channels, detailing the grounds on which they seek mercy.
- The advice of the Council of Ministers or relevant authorities is often sought before making a decision.

**Significance:**
- The power of pardon plays a crucial role in the criminal justice system by allowing for the correction of
possible errors, addressing humanitarian concerns, and promoting justice.

It's important to note that while the power to pardon is a constitutional prerogative, its exercise is
discretionary, and decisions are made considering the circumstances of each case.
Commutation of sentence
Execution, Suspension, Remission And Commutation of Sentences
Introduction
In the country, there are various constitutional and statutory provisions which suspend, remit or commute
sentences, given to the convict. Under the Indian Constitution, 1950, Article 72 and Article 161 empower
the Governor and the President to grant pardon, suspend, remit or commute the sentence. Meanwhile in
the Criminal Procedural Code, 1973, there is a whole Chapter XXXII dedicated to the suspension, remission
and commutation of sentence.

Object and scope of the topic
The power to remit, suspend or commutate a sentence is exercised by the head of the state. The executive
can show mercy on the convict by way of remission, suspension or commutation etc. The basic purpose of
the suspension, remission, commutation and other forms of showing mercy, is to take into consideration
certain aspects of the case which do not arise during the proceedings in the court of law. Just like the
other Chapters of CrPC, this is applicable to the whole of India.
Execution of sentence of death
Execution of order passed under Section 368
Under Section 366 of the CrPC,1973, a session judge cannot execute a death sentence
without the confirmation of the High Court, till that time the convict has to be in jail custody.
The High Court, under Section 368 of the CrPC, looks into the case. The High Court can:
 Confirm the sentence given by the Session Court.
 Annul the conviction and convict the accused of the same charges as that of the
Session Court or may order for fresh proceedings on the same or altered charges.
 May acquit the person, as the time for the appeal has not lapsed yet or the appeal
has been disposed of.
 Any order received by the Session Court from the High Court has to be executed by
the Session Court by way of issuance of a warrant. (Section 413 of the CrPC).

 Execution of sentence of death passed by High court
 Under Section 414 of the CrPC, if the High Court, passes the order of death sentence
in appeal or revision, the Session Court has to carry on the order by issuing a warrant.
Duty of the jail superintendent in certain cases
When the High Court certifies to the Sessions Judge, any information regarding the
confirmation, annulment of charges of the accused in the case that was sent by way of an
appeal or revision, the Session judge will send a warrant to the Superintendent of Jail of which
the prisoner was originally committed. If the prisoner is transferred to another jail, then, in
that case, the Superintendent of Jail has to send back the warrant to the Sessions Judges
who in turn will give the warrant to the Superintendent of the Jail in which the prisoner is
transferred.
In case of alteration of the charges by the appellate courts by way of an appeal or revision,
the same would be informed to the Superintendent of Jail to which the prisoner is committed.
Even in the case of immediate release of the prisoner from the jail, the Sessions Judge by
way of a warrant would inform the Superintendent of the Jail. the superintendent after such
execution will give the original warrant, duly filled to the district magistrate in which the trial
was held.
Postponement of execution of death sentence
In case of appeal to the Supreme Court
Under Section 415 of the CrPC, 1973, the High Court may order for the postponement of the
execution of death sentence, if the case has been sent to the Supreme Court for appeal
(Article 134 of the Indian Constitution). The postponement would be until the time for
preferring such appeal has been lapsed or the appeal has been disposed of, altogether.
If the death sentence has been confirmed by the High Court, the person so sentenced may
ask the High Court, by way of an application for the grant of a certificate under article 134
or 132 of the Indian Constitution. The High Court has to postpone the execution of the death
sentence until such demand is disposed of by the High Court or such certificate of appeal has
been granted before the time of considering such appeal by the Supreme Court has not lapsed.
When the death sentence has been confirmed by the High Court, but the High Court is satisfied that the
person so sentenced intends to file a Special Leave Petition to the Supreme Court under Article 136 of the
Indian Constitution. The High Court will order the postponement of the execution of the death sentence
till the time which is reasonable for the person who is sentenced, to file such appeal in the Supreme Court.

Postponement of capital sentence on a pregnant woman
Under Section 416 of the CrPC, if the woman who is sentenced is found to be pregnant, then the High
Court, in that case, can postpone the sentence or if it deems fit, the High Court can also commute the
sentence to life imprisonment.
Place of imprisonment
The State Government unless provided has the power to direct the place of imprisonment for
any person who is convicted under CrPC.
Moreover, if the person who is convicted under the provisions of CrPC, is confined in the civil
jail, then the magistrate of the court shall order that the person so convicted, should be
shifted to a criminal jail. However, if the person who was transferred to the criminal jail from
the civil jail, will be sent back to the civil jail unless-
 Three years have lapsed, the person, in this case, shall be released under Section
58 of the CPC, 1908 or Section 23 of the Provincial Insolvency Code.

 The which ordered the imprisonment of the person in the civil jail orders the officer
in charge to release of the convicted person under Section 58 of CPC or Section 23
of the Provincial Insolvency Code.
Execution of sentences of imprisonment
Under Section 418 of the CrPC, a person who is imprisoned for life or for terms other than
those mentioned in Section 413 of the CrPC, the court passing such sentence has to give a
warrant to the place where the person has to be confined unless such person is confined to
such place. However it must be the person who is imprisoned till the court is rising, then there
is no need to forward a warrant to the jail and the person shall be confined as per the direction
of the court.
Under Section 418(2) of the CrPC, if the accused is not present in the court at the time when
he is sentenced to such imprisonment, then, in that case, the court has to order for the arrest
of that person, by way of an arrest warrant, for forwarding him to jail or any other place
where he shall be confined and the sentence will start from the time of arrest of the accused.
A warrant for the execution of sentence of imprisonment
Under Section 419 of the CrPC, the warrants for the execution of the sentenc e of
imprisonment has to be directed to the in-charge of the jail or of any place in which the
accused is to be confined. But if the person is to be confined in the jail, then the warrant
needs to be given to the jailor.
Execution of the sentence of fine
A warrant for the levy of fine
When the court sentences to levy the fine on the offender, it can recover it through either or
both of these methods
 Issue of warrant for the levy of amount through the attachment of the movable
property of the offender.
 Issue of a warrant to the district collector and order him to collect it as an arrear of
land revenue accruing from a movable or immovable property or both. The collector,
in this case, shall collect the arrears of revenue as per the prevailing laws with respect
to the collection of revenue in the country. The warrant here will only serve the purpose
of a certificate.
It is important to note that in case it is mentioned that there shall be imprisonment if default
of payment happens, and if the offender has already served the default sentence, then no
court shall issue such warrant, unless there are some special circumstances which have to be
recorded in writing, or if there is an order for the payment of compensation of fine that arose
as per the provisions of Section 357.
The state government can make rules in regards to how the execution of the recovery of the
fines would take place and the summary claims made by a person other than the offender
himself would be considered accordingly.
No such warrant shall be executed by the arrest or detention of the person in the prison.
Effect of such warrant
The court shall order the attachment of property for the recovery of fines within the local
limits of its jurisdiction, however, it could order such attachment outside its jurisdiction too if
it is endorsed by the District Magistrate of the area in which the property to be attached is
present.

A warrant for the levy of fine issued by a court in any territory to which this Code does not extend
If the offender has been sentenced to pay the fine in the territory where this code does not
apply, then the court would issue a warrant to the District Collector of the area where the
code applies and order him to collect the fine by way of arrears of revenue. This warrant shall
be treated as if it is issued under Section 421 of the Code and all the conditions would apply
accordingly.
Suspension of execution of the sentence of imprisonment in default of payment of fine
When the offender has been sentenced to fine only and in case of default of payment he shall
be imprisoned, and if the fine is not paid then:
 The order that the fine shall be made in full within 30 days of such order or in
instalments in which the first instalments shall be made within 30 days of such
order and the next instalments within the intervals of not more than 30 days.
 The court may order the suspension of imprisonment order, if the offender gives a
bond with sureties or not, depending upon the court, for the payment of the fine in
full or in instalments. If the offender fails to furnish the fine at the latest date on
which such instalments has to be made, then the court shall order the execution of
the imprisonment order.
 This shall also apply in the case where the order for the payment of money has been
made for the non- recovery of which imprisonment may be made. And if the person
fails to furnish a bond for the payment of the fine, the court may order the execution
of the imprisonment immediately
General provisions regarding the execution
Who may issue a warrant?
Under Section 425, every warrant which is issued for execution is to be given by the
Magistrate or the Judge or Magistrate who passed the sentence or by their successor in -
charge.
The sentence on an escaped convict
If a sentence of death, life imprisonment or fine is passed under the provisions of this code,
on an escaped convict, then the execution of such sentence should take effect immediately.
When the sentence is passed on the escaped convict then:
 When this sentence is more severe than the previous sentence from which the
convict escaped, then the sentence shall take place immediately.
 If the present sentence is less severe than the sentence from which the convict
escape then the accused has to serve the term which is remaining of the sentence
he escaped from.
 The sentence of rigorous imprisonment will be more severe than the imprisonment
of the simple nature.
The sentence on offender already sentenced for another offence
If a person has been previously convicted for a sentence and then is subsequently convicted
for another, then the person has to serve his former punishment first and then will serve the
punishment sentenced later. Or if the court orders that both the punishment are to be served
concurrently. The punishment could be imprisonment or imprisonment for life. It is also to be
noted that where a person who has been sentenced to imprisonment by an order

under Section 122 in default of furnishing security is while undergoing such sentence,
sentenced to imprisonment for an offence committed prior to the making of such order, the
latter sentence shall commence immediately.
However, if a person is already sentenced to life imprisonment and then subsequently is
punished for a term or for life imprisonment, then the former sentence would run concurrent
to the latest imprisonment.
Period of detention undergone by the accused against the sentence of imprisonment
Where an accused is serving a sentence, other than the one on the default of payment of fine,
and the term of detention undergone by him during the investigation and trial of the same
case shall be set off against the term imposed on him from such conviction. The person shall
be liable only for the term of imprisonment left if in case the sentence of imprisonment is
given to him.
In case of a sentence given under Section 433A, such period of detention shall be set off
against fourteen years referred to in that Section.
But nothing in Section 426 and Section 427 shall be the reason to excuse any person from
the term he is sentenced to in his former or subsequent conviction.
When an award of imprisonment in default of payment of a fine is added to a substantive
sentence of imprisonment and the person undergoing the sentence is after its execution to
undergo a further substantive sentence or substantive sentences of imprisonmen t. In this
case, the sentence accruing to the default of payment of fine should be served by the
person only after he has undergone the subsequent sentences.
Return of warrant on execution of sentence
When the sentence has been executed fully, the officer executing such a sentence will have to return the
warrant to the court which has issued it. The warrant that is returned has to be undersigned by the
respective officer. The method of execution of the sentence must also be specified by the officer in
charge.

Money ordered to be paid recoverable as a fine
Any money which is payable (other than fine) under the provision of this act, and the method of recovery
of such money is not expressly given in the Code, then it shall be collected in the manner as if it is fine.

It is to be noted that Section 421 shall, in its application to an order under Section 359, by virtue of this
Section, be construed as if in the proviso to Sub-Section (1) of Section 421, after the words and figures
“under Section 357”, the words and figures “or an order for payment of costs under Section 359” had
been inserted.
Suspension and remission of sentences
Constitutional provisions
The Constitution of India, vests a large amount of sovereign power in the President and the
Governor. Centre and the State are governed in the name of President and Governor
respectively. Under Article 72 of the Indian Constitution, the President has the power to
pardon, remit, suspend or commute any sentence.
Under Article 72, the President has the power to pardons, reprieves, respites or remission of
punishment or to suspend remit or commute the sentence of any person convicted of any
offence:

 In cases where the punishment is given by the court-martial. The Governor’s power
to remit, suspend or commute the sentence under the laws of the State, shall be
given precedence.
 In cases where the power of executive extends.
 In cases where the punishment is a death sentence.
 Similarly, under Article 161 of the Constitution of India, these powers are conferred
on the Governor of the States. The Governor can pardon, reprieve, respite a
punishment or suspend, remit or commute the sentence, which is given on the basis
of the laws prevalent in the State, to which the executive power of the State extends.
 The difference between the pardoning power of the President and that of the Governor
is that the Governor does not enjoy the power to grant pardon to a death sentence.
 However, this power of the President is not absolute and depends on the consultation
with the council of ministers. This is not present in the Constitution but practically this
process is followed. Further, the Constitution does not provide for any mechanism to
check the legality of the decision taken by the President and the Governor while
exercising their mercy power. However, in the case of Epuru Sudhakar vs the State of
Andhra Pradesh, a small leeway is provided for judicial review of the mercy granting
power of the President and the Governor to rule out any sort of arbitrariness.
Suspension or remission of sentences
The suspension is the stay or postponement of the execution of the sentence. In remission,
the duration of the sentence is reduced, without changing the nature of the sentence .
Remission and suspension differ to a large extent. In remission, the nature of the sentence is
remained untouched, while the duration is reduced i.e. the rest of the sentence need not be
undergone. For example, a person sentenced for a term of two years, his sentence is now
reduced to one year. The effect of the remission is that the prisoner is given a certain date
on which he shall be released and the eyes of the law he would be a free man. However, in
case of breach of any of the condition of remission, it will be cancelled and the offender has
to serve the entire term for which he was originally sentenced
The procedure followed is given under Section 432 of CrPC, 1973. The government would ask
the opinion of the court which gave such a sentence. The co urt would revert with proper
records. The government can grant or reject the application for remission and suspension if
in its view all the conditions necessary for such a grant are not fulfilled. the offender may if
at large, be arrested by any police officer without a warrant and is to undergo the unexpired
portion of the sentence. The power of remission is wholly an executive action. There is no law
as such to question the legality of this action, but the government should use this power fairly
and not in an arbitrary manner. However, the court must consider the limitation provided
under Section 433A of the CrPC, 1973. The power of remission and suspension should not in
any way interfere with the conviction of the court, it should affect the execution of the
sentence.
Commutation of sentence
Commutation of sentence
In contrast to Suspension and Remission, which only affect the duration of the punishment
without interfering with the nature of the punishment, Commutation, on the other hand,
changes the nature of the punishment and converts it into a less severe form of punishment.
There is nothing to restrict the government to commutate a sentence, even if it is as low as
a fine. Under Section 433 of the CrPC, the appropriate government gets the power to
commutate the sentence in an appropriate case. Various sentences are eligible for
commutation, one of them is death sentence i.e.mercy plea.
 Death sentence to any other punishment provided in the IPC.

 Imprisonment for life to any other imprisonment not exceeding fourteen years or
fine.
 Sentence of rigorous imprisonment for simpler imprisonment which the person has
been sentenced or a fine.
 Sentence for a simple sentence to a fine.
 Commutation of death sentence has always been in the controversy, it raises an issue
regarding the basic human rights of the accused and on the other hand the impact of
the grave crime on the society. Section 433 of the CrPC gives the power to the
government to commutate the death sentence to a simpler sentence.
 Most of the convicts of the death sentence, get their sentence reduced to 14 years of
life imprisonment in accordance with the provisions of CrPC.
 Restriction on powers of remission or commutation in certain cases
 Section 433A of the CrPC puts a restriction on the power o f the President and the
Governor that they can’t commutate the death sentence to less than 14 years of life
imprisonment. In absence of any order under Section 51 of the IPC or Section 433A of
the CrPC, the convicts are not released even after the expiry of 14 years of
imprisonment.
 Moreover, remission can be granted under Section 432 of the CrPC in case of a definite
term of sentence. The power is to grant “additional” term of imprisonment which is
over and above the remission granted to convict under the jail manual or statutory
rules. In case of an indefinite sentence, like that of life imprisonment, may remit or
suspend the sentence of the person but not on the basis that such imprisonment is
arbitrary or on the assumption that it is for twenty years.
 Concurrent power of the Central Government in case of death sentences
 Under Section 434 of the CrPC, it is stated that the powers under Section 432 and
Section 433, which are given to the State government, can be exercised by the Central
government in case of a death sentence.
 State government to act after consultation with the Central Government in certain cases
Under Section 435 of the CrPC it is stated that the power given to the state government to
remit or commutate a sentence in an offence:
 Which is investigated under the Delhi Special Police Establishment or by any other
agency which is constituted under any Central Act other than this Code.
 Which involves misappropriation or destruction of, or damage to any property
belonging to the Central government.
 Which was committed by the person who is working under the Central government
and was discharging his official duty.
Such offences, as mentioned above, shall not be discharged by the state government except
after the consultation of the central government. Moreover, no order of remission,
commutation, or suspension by the state government shall apply where the executive power
of the Central government also extends, or where the terms of imprisonment of a person
have to run concurrently. Such orders will have effect only where the central government has
passed the same sentence with regard to the subject matter on which the executive power of
the centre extends.
According to the 41st Report of the Law Commission of India, it was stated that there are
some matters on which the centre is vitally concerned although on those subject matters the
laws of the State government would apply. It is thus necessary that the central government

should have a say on those matters and the state government should work only in consultation
of the central government otherwise the administration of law and justice would be very
difficult for the central government.
Conclusion
The sentence awarded by the judiciary to an offender can be remitted, suspended or
commutated by the executive action. The provisions of the Constitution and Criminal
Procedure Code, 1973, gives various powers to the President and the Governor to alter the
sentence awarded to the offender. This executive power has no legal check but after the few
judicial cases, a small window for the judicial review has been available.
Reprieves and suspension of sentence
A reprieve is a temporary postponement or suspension of a sentence, typically a death
sentence or another severe punishment. It is usually granted by a higher authority, such as
a governor or a head of state. Reprieves can serve various purposes, including allowing time
for legal appeals, reconsideration of evidence, or clemency considerations.

Here's a more detailed breakdown:

1. **Death Penalty Reprieves:**
- **Legal Appeals:** Reprieves can provide time for condemned individuals to pursue legal
avenues, such as filing appeals or presenting new evidence that may affect the case.
- **Clemency Review:** Authorities may use the reprieve period to review clemency
petitions, considering factors like remorse, rehabilitation, or humanitarian grounds.

2. **Other Forms of Punishment:**
- Reprieves are not exclusive to death sentences. In some cases, they may be applied to
other forms of punishment, providing a temporary halt to imprisonment or other penalties.

3. **Humanitarian Considerations:**
- Reprieves may be granted for humanitarian reasons, such as serious illness or mental
health concerns. Temporary release or suspension of sentence allows for appropriate medical
care or evaluation.

4. **Political or Public Pressure:**

- In certain situations, reprieves might be influenced by political or public pressure.
Authorities may choose to temporarily suspend a sentence to reevaluate its fairness or
address public concerns.

5. **Reconsideration of Evidence:**
- If new evidence emerges that could impact the case, a reprieve can offer the time needed
for a thorough review. This helps ensure that justice is served and innocent individuals are
not wrongfully punished.

6. **International Relations:**
- Reprieves may be influenced by diplomatic considerations or international pressure.
Leaders might temporarily suspend a sentence to address concerns raised by other nations
or international organizations.

It's important to note that the specific reasons for granting reprieves can vary based on legal
systems, jurisdictions, and individual cases. The ultimate goal is often to ensure that justice
is served fairly and that irreversible consequences, such as execution, are not carried out
hastily.
Unit 7
History, Philosophy, Definition and Scope of Victimology
**History:**
Victimology emerged as a distinct field in the mid-20th century. Prior to this, the focus in
criminology was predominantly on offenders and crimes. The 1940s and 1950s witnessed a
shift towards understanding the experiences and needs of crime victims. Early contributors
include Benjamin Mendelsohn and Hans von Hentig, who emphasized the importance of
studying victims to comprehend the dynamics of criminal behavior.

**Philosophy:**
The philosophy of victimology revolves around recognizing and addressing the harm suffered
by individuals as a result of criminal acts. It seeks to understand the impact of victimization
on various aspects of a person's life and advocates for the rights and well-being of victims.
Victimology challenges traditional criminological perspectives by placing the victim at the
center of inquiry.

**Definition:**

Victimology is the scientific study of victims and victimization. It examines the causes and
consequences of criminal victimization, the social and psychological factors that contribute to
someone becoming a victim, and the ways society responds to victims. Victimology aims to
provide a comprehensive understanding of the experiences of victims and improve policies
and support systems to assist them.

**Scope:**
1. **Victim Characteristics:** Examining the demographics, lifestyles, and behaviors of
individuals who are more susceptible to victimization.
2. **Victimization Patterns:** Analyzing the patterns and trends of criminal victimization to
identify commonalities and variations.
3. **Consequences of Victimization:** Understanding the physical, psychological, and social
impact of victimization on individuals and communities.
4. **Victim-Offender Relationship:** Exploring the dynamics between victims and offenders,
including the role of relationships in criminal acts.
5. **Criminal Justice System Response:** Evaluating how the legal system and support
services respond to victims, including issues of justice, compensation, and restitution.
6. **Prevention and Intervention:** Developing strategies to prevent victimization and
intervening to support victims after a crime has occurred.
7. **Policy Advocacy:** Contributing to the development of policies that prioritize the rights
and well-being of victims within the criminal justice system.

Victimology continues to evolve, incorporating insights from sociology, psychology, and
criminology. It plays a crucial role in shaping legal and social responses to crime, emphasizing
the need for a holistic approach that considers both offenders and victims in the pursuit of
justice.
Theories of Victimology
There are many different theories that define the field of victimology in the overall study of
criminology. Specifically, Mendelsohn's theory; the lifestyle theory; deviant place theory;
and the victim precipitation theory will be summarized with examples provided below.
Mendelsohn's Theory of Victimization
Mendelsohn's Theory of Victimization is considered to be extremely controversial in the
modern day study of victimology. Mendelsohn was one of the first to publish a report on the
typology of victims; his theories were published in the mid 1950s. Mendelsohn believed that
victims could be quantified into one of the following six typologies:
 Innocent victims
 Victims with minor guilt
 Guilty victims and guilty offenders

 Guilty offender and guiltier victims
 Guilty victims
 Imaginary victims
The basic structure of the typologies presented by Mendelsohn placed the ultimate guilt or
innocence of the victim and not that of the offender. This makes the Mendehlson theory
controversial in the modern day, and ultimately was the reason that it was difficult in the
early days of the BSU to pursue victimology as a legitimate area of study in the FBI
Academy. It took time to break the earlier views that were centered around the victim-
blaming attitudes made more popular by Mendelsohn.
.3Compensatory relief and rights of Victims
7.2Definitions and Characteristics of Victim
**Definition of Victim:**
A victim is an individual who has suffered harm, injury, or loss as a result of a criminal act,
accident, or other events. In the context of victimology, the term extends beyond the
immediate physical impact to include psychological, emotional, and social consequen ces of
victimization.

**Characteristics of Victims:**

1. **Vulnerability:**
- Victims often exhibit vulnerabilities that may make them more susceptible to victimization.
These vulnerabilities can be influenced by factors such as age, socioeconomic sta tus, or
physical and mental health.

2. **Innocence:**
- Victims are typically considered innocent in the sense that they did not provoke or
contribute significantly to the harm they experienced. This characteristic distinguishes victims
from offenders in the eyes of the law.

3. **Helplessness:**
- Victims may experience a sense of helplessness during and after victimization. The loss
of control over their circumstances contributes to the emotional impact of the event.

4. **Unpredictability:**

- Victimization is often unpredictable and can happen to anyone, regardless of personal
characteristics. However, certain factors may increase or decrease the likelihood of someone
becoming a victim.

5. **Impact:**
- Victims endure physical, emotional, and/or financial consequences as a result of the harm
inflicted upon them. The impact can range from temporary distress to long -term trauma,
depending on the nature and severity of the victimization.

6. **Blamelessness:**
- Victims are generally regarded as blameless for the harm they suffered. This characteristic
is crucial in legal contexts, where assigning blame is essential in determining guilt and
innocence.

7. **Secondary Victimization:**
- In some cases, victims may experience secondary victimization through the legal process
or societal reactions. This occurs when individuals face additional trauma or distress due to
insensitive treatment or victim-blaming attitudes.

8. **Individual and Group Dynamics:**
- Victims can be individuals or groups, and victimization can occur on a personal or collective
level. For example, communities affected by natural disasters or certain crimes can
collectively be considered victims.

9. **Diversity:**
- Victims come from diverse backgrounds, and their experiences are shaped by factors such
as race, gender, age, and cultural context. Understanding this diversity is essential in
providing effective support and addressing the unique needs of different victims.

10. **Survivorship:**
- Some victims prefer to be referred to as survivors, emphasizing their resilience and
strength in coping with and overcoming the challenges posed by victimization.

Recognizing the characteristics of victims is crucial for developing effective victim support
services, crafting policies that prioritize victim rights, and understanding the complex
dynamics of victim-offender interactions.
Introduction:
Wherever there is a Society, there is crime and violence. Thus in every Society there exists two types of people:
firstly, the victim and secondly, the criminal. When a person commits a crime, he is subsequently captured, tried,
punished, or released on probation. It is often misunderstood that the carriage of justice come to a rest with the
signing of the judgement; however, the final destination is in the lap of the aggrieved. The Court's responsibility and
the State's responsibility goes hand in hand. The Court's responsibility is to maintain the impartiality of justice and
the State's responsibility is to support the pillars of justice. It's a misnomer that the end of justice is achieved when
the criminal is punished at the end of the trial. However the main purpose of the trial is to provide justice to the
victim. The victim's condition remain unchanged because only compensation has been awarded to the victim. And
most of the times such compensation is insufficient to make up for the loss borne by the victim.
Apart from directly affected victims, there are another type of victims. They are called non-direct victims. These are
the people whose lives are dependent on the people who were directly impacted, and as a result, they experience
agony and loss because the main victim was the major, if not sole, earning member.
1
Now is the time for the criminal
justice system to provide adequate compensation so that they can assist the victim in mending and healing injury
caused by the crime. These are the persons who have suffered emotionally, physically, and financially as a result of
such a crime. Thus, it is critical for the criminal justice system to focus on the victims' conditions rather than on the
criminals. Further, they have to be more concerned with the victims' deteriorating conditions. They assist the state
in punishing offenders; they have also become the focal point of the criminal justice system.
Victimology-related jurisprudence has extensively debated on the topic as to whom the responsibility falls. Whether
the State's responsibility ends simply by registering a case, conducting an investigation, initiating prosecution, and
sentencing an accused, or whether the State has a further responsibility to the victim aside from pursuing these
steps. Similarly, it is unclear whether the court has a legal obligation to provide compensation regardless of guilt.
However, victims of crime, including her/his family, have a genuine expectation that the state will 'find and punish'
the guilty and side by side compensating the aggrieved. Even if the court system fails to identify the accused or fails
to collect and provide the necessary evidence to guarantee adequate sentencing of the guilty, the responsibility of
compensation remains on the State.
Since the turn of the century, the jurisprudence under Article 21 has gained traction and now includes rehabilitating
the victim and/or their family. However, the scope of the victim's remedy in terms of compensation was previously
limited under" constitutional remedy i.e., by invoking a writ jurisdiction. As a result, there was a need to include a
specific provision for compensating victims regardless of the outcome of criminal prosecution. As a result, Section
357 A was added to the CrPC 1973.
2

In India, compensatory relief for victims of crime and the rights of victims are addressed
through legal provisions and policies. Here are key aspects related to compensatory relief and
victim rights in the Indian context:

**Compensatory Relief:**

1. **Legal Provisions:**
- The Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) in India includes provisions related to
compensation for victims. Section 357 and 357A empower the courts to order compensation
to victims from the offender or the state government.

2. **Victim Compensation Schemes:**
- Many states in India have established Victim Compensation Schemes to provide financial
assistance to victims of various crimes. These schemes outline the eligibility criteria and the
quantum of compensation based on the nature and severity of the crime.

3. **National Legal Services Authority (NALSA):**
- NALSA, established under the Legal Services Authorities Act, plays a crucial role in
providing legal aid and assistance to victims. It also supports victim compensation programs
and initiatives.

4. **Restitution by Offender:**
- Courts in India have the authority to order restitution by the offender, directing them to
compensate the victim for the loss or injury suffered as a result of the crime.

**Rights of Victims:**

1. **Right to Compensation:**
- Victims have the right to seek compensation for injuries or losses suffered due to a criminal
act. This right is supported by legal provisions and victim compensation schemes.

2. **Right to Legal Aid:**
- Victims have the right to legal representation and assistance. Legal aid may be provided
by government agencies, NGOs, or legal service authorities.

3. **Right to Privacy and Dignity:**
- Victims have the right to privacy and dignity during legal proceedings. Their personal
information is protected, and measures are taken to ensure their well-being.

4. **Right to Information:**
- Victims have the right to be informed about the progress of the case, court proceedings,
and the release of the accused. This right helps victims stay informed and involved in the
legal process.

5. **Right to Participate:**
- Victims have the right to participate in legal proceedings, including providing statements,
presenting evidence, and expressing views on plea agreements or sentencing.

6. **Right to Support and Assistance:**
- Victims have the right to receive support and assistance, including counseling and medical
care. Victim support services aim to address the emotional and practical needs of victims.

7. **Right to Compensation in Cases of Acquittal:**
- In cases where the accused is acquitted but the victim has suffered loss, the victim may
still be eligible for compensation under certain circumstances.

8. **Right to Fair Treatment:**
- Victims are entitled to fair and respectful treatment by law enforcement, legal authorities,
and the criminal justice system.

While significant progress has been made in recognizing and addressing the rights of victims
in India, ongoing efforts are required to ensure the effective implementation of these rights
and the provision of compensatory relief to victims of crime.
7.4 Specific Victimization in Indian scenario- Child Victim, Women Victim and
victimization of under privileged class.(SC, ST)
**Specific Victimization in the Indian Scenario: Child Victims, Women Victims, and
Victimization of Underprivileged Classes (SC, ST)**

1. **Child Victims:**

- **Extent of the Issue:** Child victimization in India is a critical concern, encompassing
various forms such as child abuse, child labor, trafficking, and exploitation.
- **Legal Framework:** The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and
the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act provide legal safeguards for child
victims, emphasizing their protection, rehabilitation, and compensation.
- **Challenges:** Despite legal provisions, challenges persist, including underreporting,
societal stigma, and the need for improved child -friendly mechanisms within the justice
system.

2. **Women Victims:**
- **Extent of the Issue:** Women in India face various forms of victimization, including
domestic violence, sexual assault, harassment, and human trafficking.
- **Legal Safeguards:** Legislation such as the Protection of Women from Domestic
Violence Act, the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and
Redressal) Act, and amendments to criminal laws address women's rights and victimization.
- **Challenges:** Implementation gaps, social norms, and cultural factors contribute to
challenges in effectively addressing and preventing victimization of women.

3. **Victimization of Underprivileged Classes (SC, ST):**
- **Extent of the Issue:** Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) in India face
discrimination and victimization, including atrocities, social exclusion, and economic
marginalization.
- **Legal Safeguards:** The Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act
provides legal protection and remedies against offenses committed against SC and ST
communities.
- **Challenges:** Despite legal provisions, issues such as delayed justice, caste -based
prejudices, and inadequate implementation hinder the complete eradication of victimization
against these communities.

4. **Intersectionality:**
- **Multiple Vulnerabilities:** Individuals who belong to more than one category, such as
Dalit women or tribal children, may face compounded vulnerabilities due to intersectional
factors.

- **Need for Comprehensive Approaches:** Addressing specific victimizati on requires
comprehensive strategies that consider the intersectionality of gender, caste, and economic
status to ensure the effectiveness of interventions and support systems.

5. **Government Initiatives:**
- **Awareness and Prevention Programs:** Gov ernment initiatives focus on creating
awareness and preventing victimization, especially through education and community -based
programs.
- **Legal Aid and Support:** Various schemes and legal aid services aim to provide support
and assistance to victims, ensuring access to justice and compensation.

6. **NGO and Civil Society Involvement:**
- **Supplementary Support:** Non -governmental organizations (NGOs) play a crucial role
in supplementing government efforts by providing additional support, advocac y, and
rehabilitation services for victims.

Addressing specific victimization in India requires a multi-pronged approach involving legal
reforms, awareness campaigns, community involvement, and economic empowerment
initiatives. Efforts should be directed not only towards punitive measures but also preventive
measures and the socio-economic upliftment of marginalized communities.
Unit 8
Witness Protection Schemes
Introduction
Witnesses play an important role in legal proceedings. Witness protection in India is not a
heavily discussed matter as compared to other issues like rape, domestic violence, etc. and
frankly speaking, it is unfair and wrong. Both parties to the case know that an individual
witness can hold the verdict in their favor, consequently, many times witnesses are either
emotionally blackmailed or bribed to stay quiet and change their stand in a case. It is often
seen in such instances, that witnesses who are minor s or are suffering from additional
difficulties fall prey. Such people are termed as vulnerable witnesses. The Supreme Court in
a recent remark gave clarification regarding the term ‘vulnerable witness’.
Who is a witness
A witness is a person who sees crime happen and who has the ability to express it when
asked by the court. Under Section 118 of the Indian Evidence Act 1872, the term witness is
defined as a person who is competent enough to understand the questions asked by the
court. Thus, according to this section, any person can be a witness unless they are unable
to understand and answer the questions that are asked to them.
Vulnerable witness
The Supreme Court while hearing a special leave petition in the case of Smruti Tukaram
Badade v. State of Maharashtra and Anr. (2019) orally remarked that the definition of the
term ‘vulnerable witness’ might not be constrained to child witnesses. This was in reference

with the Delhi High Court Guidelines on the protection of vulnerable witnesses
wherein, Section 3 of these guidelines define a vulnerable witness as a child who has not
yet completed 18 years of age. The term vulnerable witness is not included under Section
118 of the Indian Evidence Act. The Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 of the
United Kingdom mentioned certain measures for the protection of vulnerable witnesses.
There are certain people who are unable to testify or give evidence to the court due to
certain additional difficulties like mental disorders, physically handicapped or are unable to
cope due to intelligence impairments, and are below 18 years of age. Such people are
termed as vulnerable witnesses.
If so, can a child testify
A child can testify if the court thinks that he/she is able to answer the questions put forward
rationally provided he/she is not a toddler. In the case of Dhanraj and Ors, v. State of
Maharashtra (2002), the witness was a child of class VIII. The Supreme Court held that a
child of class VIII who is not very small will be having enough intelligence to understand the
facts and answer the questions put forward. Hence the testimony of the child was heard.
Recent developments relating to the concept of vulnerable witnesses in India
The Supreme Court in 2017, ordered for the immediate establishment of at least two
vulnerable witness deposition centres under every High Court’s jurisdiction. The protection
of vulnerable witnesses in criminal proceedings has become a growing issue. Children, rape
survivors, victims of sexual abuse, etc. often find the court environment stressful. They are
constantly under threat, if not physically, mentally. The term secondary victimization is
often used while describing vulnerable witnesses. This simply means the mental suffering
endured by the victims due to other institutions or individuals after the crime has been
committed mostly in sexual violence cases. The same thing can be seen when witnesses
who are small children or people with certain disabilities are bribed or threatened to change
their stand. Due to this, many times such people are not ready to give their testimonies.
Delhi High Court guidelines
Witness protection in India
Witness protection has become a raging issue in India. In the case of Swaransingh v. the
State of Punjab, (1957) the Court held that in a criminal case evidence is admissible in law.
To provide such evidence, witnesses are important. It is rarely seen that a witness has
changed his/her stand by his/her own free will during a trial. In the case of Mahendra
Chawla and Ors. v. Union of India and Ors. (2019), the Court held that one of the main
reasons for witnesses changing their stance can be the lack of proper protection given by
the state, hence a threat to life. Such witnesses are known as hostile witnesses. The 4th
National Police Commission Report 1980, states that most witnesses in India are turning
hostile because of pressure and coercion by the accused and that a regulation on the
manipulation of witnesses is necessary. Hence, the state of witnesses in India is bad.
There’s a lot of stress witnesses have to deal with. First witnessing the entire crime scene
and then staying in fear against a possible threat to their lives.
Right to a Fair Trial
The Indian Constitution provides for the Right to Fair Trial under Article 21. This has become
an important feature of the Indian democratic system. It is also recognized as a
fundamental right. Witnesses can completely change the scenario of a case hence, deserve
a free and fair trial. In the case of Zahira Habibullah Sheikh & Anr. v. State of Gujarat &
Ors., (2006) the Supreme Court held that a witness should not be forced or threatened to

give false evidence. If done so, the trial would not be considered fair. This principle was
mainly put forth for the accused in a case. Hence to maintain fairness in a trial, the accused
should be allowed to cross-examine any number of witnesses in a proceeding. In the case
of Mohd. Hussain Julfikar Ali v. the State (Govt. of NCT) Delhi, (2012), out of 56 only one
witness was cross-examined. So the Court ruled in favor of the appellant and stood down
his conviction.
Witness Protection Scheme 2018
The Witness Protection Scheme in 2018, is the first legal enactment set up by the Indian
Government. The need for such an Act was due for a long time. The Supreme Court in
the State of Gujarat v. Anirudh Singh (1997) held that it is the duty of every witness to help
the State by giving evidence. The objective of the scheme is simple. Protect and safeguard
the interests of the witnesses in India. The Scheme further enables the witness, a police
escort to the courtroom. In worst-case scenarios, the Act divides witnesses into three
categories:
 Class A:- When the witness and his/her family members get threats to their lives
during the proceedings.
 Class B:- When the safety, reputation, and property of the witness and his/her
family members during the investigation.
 Class C:- When the threat only extends to harassment of the witness and his/her
family members during the proceedings.
The Scheme further provides for a Witness Protection Fund, which is created for the
expenses incurred during a witness protection order. Witness protection Order is the
detailed list of protective measures to be passed by a competent authority. Further, the
Scheme ensures full identity protection of the witness and his/her family members during
the investigation. Some of the other protective measures mentioned in this Scheme
include:-
 Installation of security cameras at the witness’s house.
 Regular patrolling, and recce of the witness’s house.
 Monitoring the witness’s call records, emails, messages, etc.
 Relocation of the witness based on the Threat analysis report.
 Emergency contact numbers are provided to the witness.
Importance of a witness
 The witnesses play a vital role in facilitating the court to arrive at correct findings on disputed
questions of facts and to find out where the truth lies.
 In the words of Whittaker Chambers, a witness is “a man whose life and faith are so completely
one that when the challenge comes to step out and testify for his faith, he does so, disregarding
all risks, accepting all consequences”
 In Mahender Chawla and Others Vs. Union of India and Others (2019) 14 SCC 615, Justice AK
Sikri deemed the conditions of witnesses in Indian Legal System to be “pathetic”.
Issues faced by witnesses
They (witnesses to criminal trials) are deprived of proper legal remedy and they do not get suitable treatment
Apart from possibly facing life threatening intimidation, the witness has to face the trauma of attending court
regularly
The legal system takes witnesses for granted
Many a time they are made to appear long after the incident of the alleged crime, which significantly hampers their
ability to recall necessary details at the time of actual crime
They are not even suitably remunerated for the loss of time and the expenditure towards conveyance etc
Hence conducting time-bound criminal trials is crucial

Hostile Witness
 One of the main reasons for witnesses to turn hostile is that they are not accorded appropriate
protection by the State
 In Zahira Habibullah Sheikh (5) v. State of Gujarat, (2006) 3 SCC 374, the court said, “The State
has a definite role to play inprotecting the witnesses, to start with at least in sensitive cases
involving those in power, who have political patronage and could wield muscle and money
power, to avert trial getting tainted and derailed and truth becoming a casualty”. Citizens for
Justice and Peace (CJP) were second petitioners in this path-breaking case.
 In Ramesh and Others vs. State of Haryana (2017) 1 SCC 529, the court attributed the following
reasons for witnesses retracting their statements and turning hostile:
(i) Threat/Intimidation.
(ii) Inducement by various means.
(iii) Use of muscle and money power by the accused.
(iv) Use of stock witnesses.
(v) Protracted trials.
(vi) Hassles faced by the witnesses during investigation and trial.
(vii) Non-existence of any clear-cut legislation to check hostility of witness.
Legal safeguards for Witnesses
Under section 195A of the Indian Penal CodeCriminal Intimidation of Witnesses is a criminal offence
punishable with seven years of imprisonment.
In statues namely Juvenile Justice (Acre andProtection of Children) Act, 2015, Whistle BlowersProtection
Act, 2011, Protection of Children from SexualCastes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989
alsoprovides for safeguarding witnesses against threats
Guidelines for child witness
 In Sakshi vs. Union of India (2004) 5 SCC 518, the court laid down the following guidelines on
the procedure of taking of evidence from a child witness:
 The judges shall allow the use of a videotaped interview of thetestimony of the child in the
presence of a child-support person.
 A child could be permitted to testify through closed circuittelevision or from behind a screen to
acquire an honest and frankaccount of the acts complained of without any fear.
 Only the judge should be allowed to cross-examine a minor onthe basis of the questions given by
the defence in writing after theexamination of the minor.
 During the testimony of the child, sufficient interval should beprovided as and when she requires
it.
Guidelines for taking evidence from witness
 While holding the trial of rape or child sex abuse, some sort of arrangements like a screen or
something like it may be used so as to make sure that victim or witnesses (who are equally
vulnerable and need protection like the victim) do not confront the accused;
 Questions raised during the cross-examination by the counsel of the accused that are directly
related to and be reminiscent to the victim or the witnesses of the incident should be written
down and given to the presiding officer of the court in advance who will then put forth the
question in simple language without making her uncomfortable
 Publication of evidence of the witness only during the course of trial and not after
 Allowing re-trial allowed due to apprehension and threat to the life of witness
 Maintaining anonymity of victim in cases of rape
 Discouraging the practice of obtaining adjournments in cases when witness is present and
accused is absent
 Making threatening of witnesses as a ground for cancellation of bail
 Cross-examination by video conferencing, which is specifically helpful to the victims of sexual
crimes, particularly, child witnesses

Witness Protection Scheme, 2018
 First ever reference to Witness Protection in India came in 14th Report of the Law Commission of
India in 1958.
 The 4th National Police Commission Report, 1980 noted ‘prosecution witnesses are turning
hostile because of pressure of Accused and there is need of Regulation to check manipulation of
witnesses.”
 The petitioners in the case where Witness Protection Scheme was laid out, included a witness,
father of a murdered witness, father of the child rape victim and a journalist who escaped a
murder attempt by goons of godman Asaram, who was accused of rape by several girls,
including minors
 The draft Witness Protection Scheme was prepared by the Ministry of Home Affairs and placed
before the court during the proceedings
 There are 3 categories of witnesses as per threat perception: Category A: where threat extends to
life; Category B: where threat extends to safety, reputation or property and Category C: where
threat is moderate and extends to harassment or intimidation
 There is supposed to be a Witness Protection Fund in each State for which budgetary allocation is
to be made and it can also receive funds from Corporate or other donations
How can a witness get protection
 In order to receive protection, an application in prescribed form is required to be made to the
competent Authority (Standing Committee in each District chaired by District and Sessions
Judge) which then calls for a Threat Analysis report from the ACP/DSP of the concerned police
division.
 The report categorizes threat protection (as per the three categories, ‘A’, ‘B’, and ‘C’) and suggest
protection measure.
 The application is to be disposed of within 5 days of receipt of said report and the order thus
passed is to be implemented by the Witness Protection Cell which is also set up under this
scheme.
 The scheme specifies that the protection should be proportionate to the threat and should be
granted for 3 months at a time.
 The measures may include, inter alia, temporary change of residence, phone number, and escort
to and from court, in camera trials, concealment of identity of witness, installing CCTV, patrolling
around the house, ensuring expeditious recording of deposition during trial and so on
 Special requests can also be made via application for protecting the identity as well as changing
the identity of the witness as well as relocation of witness
 CRIME VICTIMS AND ROLE OF INSTITUTIONS
 8.1 Legal Framework
 8.2 Role of Judiciary
 8.3 Role of NHRC
 8.4 Victims Assistance Programmes and Services

**8.1 Legal Framework:**

- **Constitutional Provisions:** The Constitution of India provides fundamental rights and
guarantees against exploitation and injustice, forming the foundational legal framework for
the protection of crime victims.

- **Criminal Laws:** Various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and other criminal laws
address offenses against individuals, outlining legal recourse and penalties for perpetrators.

- **Specialized Legislation:** Acts such as the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence
Act, the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, and the Protection of Children
from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act offer specific legal protections for certain categories of
victims.

**8.2 Role of Judiciary:**

- **Adjudication:** The judiciary plays a crucial role in interpreting and applying laws related
to crime victims. Courts provide a forum for victims to seek justice and redress.

- **Compensation Orders:** Courts have the authority to order compensation to victims
under Section 357 and 357A of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), ensuring that victims
receive financial relief.

- **Interpretation of Laws:** Judicial decisions contribute to the evolution of legal principles
related to victim rights, setting precedents for future cases.

**8.3 Role of NHRC (National Human Rights Commission):**

- **Human Rights Protection:** NHRC addresses human rights violations, including those
affecting crime victims. It investigates complaints and takes suo-motu cognizance of issues
related to human rights.

- **Recommendations and Reports:** NHRC can make recommendation s to the government
for improvements in laws, policies, and procedures concerning crime victims based on its
investigations and findings.

- **Advocacy and Awareness:** NHRC plays a role in advocating for the rights of victims and
raising awareness about human rights issues through workshops, seminars, and campaigns.

**8.4 Victims Assistance Programmes and Services:**

- **Government Initiatives:** Various government departments, such as the Ministry of
Women and Child Development, implement programs and s ervices to assist victims. This
includes victim compensation schemes, counseling services, and rehabilitation programs.

- **NGO Involvement:** Non -governmental organizations (NGOs) often collaborate with
government agencies to provide additional support services, including legal aid, counseling,
and vocational training for victims.

- **Victim Compensation:** Many states in India have established victim compensation
schemes to provide financial assistance to victims of crime, ensuring that they receive
compensation for medical expenses, loss of property, or other damages.

- **Crisis Intervention:** Immediate assistance, including medical aid and counseling, is
often provided through crisis intervention services to help victims cope with the initial trauma
of the crime.

In summary, the legal framework, judiciary, NHRC, and various assistance programs
collectively contribute to the protection and support of crime victims in India. The
collaboration between government institutions and non -governmental organizations is
essential for a comprehensive and effective approach to victim assistance.
**8.1 Legal Framework:**

The legal framework for crime victims in India encompasses a range of laws and provisions
that aim to protect their rights and ensure justice. Key components include:

- **Constitutional Provisions:** The Constitution of India includes fundamental
rights and principles that act as the foundation for legal protections against
exploitation and injustice.

- **Criminal Laws:** The Indian Penal Code (IPC) and other criminal laws define
offenses against individuals, prescribing penalties for perpetrators. These laws
form the basis for prosecuting those who harm victims.

- **Specialized Legislation:** Acts like the Protection of Women from Domestic
Violence Act, the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, and the
Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act provide specific legal

safeguards for certain categories of victims, addressing their unique needs and
vulnerabilities.

**8.2 Role of Judiciary:**

The judiciary plays a pivotal role in the legal process, ensuring the fair treatment of crime
victims:

- **Adjudication:** Courts provide a forum for victims to seek justice. They
interpret and apply laws, ensuring that legal principles are upheld during trials.

- **Compensation Orders:** Courts have the authority to order compensation
to victims from offenders under Section 357 and 357A of the Code of Criminal
Procedure (CrPC), providing financial relief to victims.

- **Legal Precedents:** Judicial decisions contribute to the development of legal
principles related to victim rights. Landmark judgments set precedents that
guide future cases, influencing the interpretation and application of laws.

**8.3 Role of NHRC (National Human Rights Commission):**

NHRC is a vital institution focusing on human rights, including the rights of crime victims:

- **Human Rights Protection:** NHRC investigates complaints related to human
rights violations, including those affecting crime victims. It plays a role in
ensuring that victims’ rights are upheld.

- **Recommendations and Reports:** NHRC can make recommendations t o the
government based on its investigations, suggesting improvements in laws,
policies, and procedures concerning crime victims.

- **Advocacy and Awareness:** NHRC engages in advocacy efforts to raise
awareness about human rights issues, including the rights of crime victims.
Workshops, seminars, and campaigns contribute to public understanding and
support.

**8.4 Victims Assistance Programmes and Services:**

Various programs and services are designed to assist and support crime victims, addressing
their diverse needs:

- **Government Initiatives:** Government departments, such as the Ministry of
Women and Child Development, implement victim assistance programs. These
may include victim compensation schemes, counseling services, and
rehabilitation programs.

- **NGO Involvement:** Non -governmental organizations collaborate with
government agencies to provide additional support services. This can include
legal aid, counseling, and vocational training for victims.

- **Victim Compensation Schemes:** Many states have established victim
compensation schemes to provide financial assistance. These schemes aim to
compensate victims for medical expenses, property loss, and other damages
suffered due to the crime.

- **Crisis Intervention:** Immediate assistance is often provided through crisis
intervention services, offering medical aid and counseling to help victims cope
with the initial trauma of the crime.

In summary, the legal framework, judiciary, NHRC, and victim assistance programs work
collaboratively to provide a comprehensive support system for crime victims in India. This
multi-faceted approach is essential for addressing the complex and varied needs of individuals
who have experienced victimization.

CRIMINOLOGY Notes. includes penology also

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