THE ALIEN LAW NEEDS TO BE INDIANISED

Till the Muslim and, later, the British invaders dawned on the country the then prevailing system of law and justice was widely accepted and respected.

- AMBA CHARAN VASHISHTH

Though unwritten, the justice the then rajas and maharajas ruling in various parts of the country dispensed not only was justice but it also appeared to be so.

The British left the country independent in 1947. Still the country continues to be slave to the criminal and civil system of jurisprudence the British bequeathed to India. The Indian Penal Code (IPC), Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), Civil Procedure Code (CPC) and other laws were framed and imposed on the Indian people by the British alien rulers more to solidify their hold on the country and less by their desire to dispense justice. The underlying intention to let 99 guilty to go scot free but not a single innocent should get punishmentis basically not in keeping with Indian ethos.

Delay kills justice

In the heat of the moment in a number of cases the accused appear before police confessing their guilt to have committed murder and some other heinous crimes. Police record their statements. The accused are also made to make a statement before a magistrate where accused’s statement is voluntary and under no pressure or coercion. But, strangely, under the law this statement cannot be sufficient ground for his conviction. The accused is given a right to deny the statement later. If it is so, why should the police and a magistrate waste their time and energy for such useless formalities? The only solace is that prosecution can use it just to confront him with it at the time of cross-examination of the accused. In sum, a person in this country has not only the freedom and human right to commit a crime but also to deny his statement made before the police and a magistrate and the right to prove himself innocent of the crime he/she has committed — in a way right to falsify the truth!