Historical overview of crimnallaw in india

Historical overview of crimnallaw

1. Criminal law in India: A Historical Overview

2. Introduction Indian criminal law is the law relating to criminal conduct in India.

3. Divisions Indian criminal laws are divided into three major acts:- Indian Penal Code, 1860 Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 Indian Evidence Act, 1872 Besides these major acts, special Criminal Laws are also passed by the Indian Parliament i.e. NDPS, Prevention of Corruption Act, Food Adulteration Act, Dowry Prohibition Act , the Defence of India Act,etc . thousands of minor la.ws are made in India

4. Indian Penal Code, 1860 The draft of the Indian Penal Code was prepared by the First Law Commission, chaired by Thomas Babington Macaulay in 1834 and was submitted to Governor-General of India Council in 1835. Based on a simplified codification of the law of England at the time, elements were also derived from the Napoleonic Code and from Edward Livingston's Louisiana Civil Code of 1825. The first final draft of the Indian Penal Code was submitted to the Governor-General of India in Council in 1837, but the draft was again revised. The drafting was completed in 1850 and the Code was presented to the Legislative Council in 1856, but it did not take its place on the statute book of British India until a generation later, following the Indian Rebellion of 1857. The draft then underwent a very careful revision at the hands of Barnes Peacock, who later became the first Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court, and the future puisne judges of the Calcutta High Court, who were members of the Legislative Council, and was passed into law on 6 October 1860 . The Code came into operation on 1 January 1862. Macaulay did not survive to see the penal code he wrote come into force, having died near the end of 1859. The code came into force in Jammu and Kashmir on 31 October 2019, by virtue of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, and replaced the state's Ranbir Penal Code .

5. Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 In medieval India, subsequent to the law set by the Muslims, the Mohammedan Criminal Law came into prevalence. The British rulers passed the Regulating Act of 1773 under which a Supreme Court was established in Calcutta and later on at Madras and in Bombay. The Supreme Court was to apply British procedural law while deciding the cases of the Crown's subjects . After the Rebellion of 1857, the crown took over the administration in India. The Criminal Procedure Code, 1861 was passed by the British parliament. The CrPC was created for the first time ever in 1882 and then amended in 1898, then according to the 41st Law Commission report in 1973

6. Indian Evidence Act, 1872 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND In order to trace the history of the law of evidence in our country, we have to study three different periods : The ancient Hindu period; The ancient Muslim period; and The British period

7. Ancient Hindu period : The sources of information relating to the law of evidence prevailing in Hindu India emanate from the Hindu Dharmashastras . According to Hindu dharmashastras , the purpose of any trail is the desire to ascertain the truth. The emphasized that a judge by using his skill should extricate the deceit like a physician taking out from the body an iron dart with the help of the surgical instruments. Vasista recognisewd three type of evidence: Lekhya (documentary evidence), Sakshi (witnesses), and Bukhthi (possession).

8. Ancient Muslim period : In regard to the law of evidence discussed in the book “Muslim Jurisprudence” written by the sir Abdul Rahim. The Mohammendan law givers deals with evidence under the heads of oral and documentary. Oral evidence is further sub-classified into direct and hearsay evidence as in present day

9. the British period: In British India, the presidency courts by virtue of a royal charter establish in Bombay, Madras and Calcutta were following English rules of the law of evidence. In mofussil courts, outside the presidency towns, there were no definite rules relating to the law of evidence. The courts enjoyed unfettered liberty in the matter of admission of evidence. The entire administration of justice in the mofussil courts, in the absence of any definite rules regarding the law of evidence, was in total chaos . There was a dire necessity for the codification of the rules of law. In 1835 the first attempt was made to codify the rules of evidence by passing the Act, 1835. Between 1835 and 1853 about eleven enactments were passed dealing with the law of evidence. But all these enactments were found inadequate . In the year 1868, a commission was set up under the chairmanship of Sir Henry Mayne . He submitted the draft, which was later found unsuitable to Indian conditions. Later in the year 1870, this task of codification of the rules of law of evidence was entrusted to Sir James Fitz James Stephen. Stephen submitted his draft and it was referred to the select committee and also to High Courts and members of Bar to elicit the opinion, and, after gathering opinion, the draft was placed before the legislature and it was enacted. And at last, “The evidence Act ” came in to force on 1st September, 1872 . Prior to Independence, there were as many as 600 princely States in India, which were not within the jurisdiction of the British system of justice. Each of these states had its own rules of law of evidence. But by and large, followed the Indian evidence Act 1872. After independence, there was a merger of princely states into the Indian Union. Both the substantive as well procedural laws have since been made uniformly applicable to all states, whether British province or native States. So much so, the law of evidence is now applicable to all states constituting the Union of India.

10. Conclusion The Indian Penal Code in all its glory is a document that was made suited for India, by the British. Today we still follow the same rules and laws; with different amendments as time and culture changes, but this text has been the backbone for delivering justice to those violated. Criminal law in India aims to punish the guilty and build a society that is free from the clutches of evil, getting rid of them one by one. Even though today’s society does not practice retributive justice, justice today is not only for the victim but for society at large. It is extremely important to understand humans and the need for criminal law, the need for any law, to bring order to chaos that exists in this world. Dostoyevsky the author of Crime & Punishment beautifully writes “ Man is a mystery. It needs to be unravelled , and if you spend your whole life unravelling it, don’t say that you’ve wasted time. I am studying that mystery because I want to be a human being. ” Owing to this today we maintain order, fight for justice and punish the criminal based on the history and evolution of Criminal Law.