COORDINATED APPROACH TO CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

Justice begotten at a cost is justice lost. Justice is a natural right. It is the sine qua
non and the raison d’etre of the social grouping. Justice in a social environment has to be
as natural as sleep or oxygen to a living being. Free and fair justice is the leges legum of
the human rights. The proficiency of the judicial administration system has to be assayed
with this litmus test and its role in the system has to be judged by its contributions to this
goal of the judicial administration system.

Justice in its basic sense necessitates an integral vision. Justice abstracted from its
environment, past, present, future, diverse issues, dramatis personae and related events
cannot be justice in the true sense of the word. Justice in parts is no justice that lasts.
Justice involves delving deep down to the heart of an issue and delivering justice in
reference to all related issues and matters to the rightful entitlement of all. This
presupposes a passion for objectivity and justness and above all, selflessness in the
arbitrators of justice as well as in those who are in the service of the administration of
justice.

JUDICIARY AND THE POLICE

Effectiveness of police lies in its ability in making justice an easily and cheaply
dispensable commodity. Police are the first line of the means of dispensing justice.
Courts come to the scene only in far later stage for restricted number of cases. For the
hoi polloi, police is the first and the only easy defence against injustices. Most cases of
disputes never cross the thresholds of the police stations. Police do act as arbitrators of
justice in criminal as well as civil cases in exercise of the wide spectrum of
responsibilities of crime investigations, investigations, maintenance of law, enforcement
of order, preventive measures and security duties. They enjoy a key position in the
administration of justice. A good police certainly symbolise effective administration of
justice more than courts and prosecution department together do. That is why a sound
police system is conditio sine qua non for the health and progress of the country and its
tenuous social fabric.

The position of the police as the enforcer of the laws of the country gives it an
edge in the judicial system of the country in enforcement of laws, preventive measures
and investigation of crimes and provides it a strategic relationship with the dispenser of
laws namely the judiciary. Though the judiciary has absolutely no say in the
organisational matters of the police force, it, if it so desires and have adequate resources
to do it, can have absolute control over the police functions as the police au fond is the
enforcer of laws and the judiciary is the interpreter and dispenser of the laws and the
synergy between the two functions perforce implies absolute subordination of the police
functions to the judicial review. However, this may not be the case in practice for several
reasons. One is the concept of judicial restraint. Another is the constraints within which
the judiciary functions. The other is the disinclination of the judiciary to interfere with
the executive functions of the police unless circumstances compel it to do so to discharge
its cardinal responsibility of upholding the rule of law and justice in the country.

In the spectrum of the state administration, the police enjoys or suffers a rather
polemic position defying many principles of the statecraft like the insulation of
legislature, executive and judiciary in the machinery of the state governance or the
compatibility between the constitutional rights invested with the importance enjoyed by a
government organisation in the state administration. The police organisation on the other
hand is the best example of the unity of state administration, of the synergy of various
organs of the state governance. It, as an enforcer of laws, investigator of crimes and an
apparatus of state security, share a lever with all the pockets of the statecraft and acts as
the spinal chord of the government by coordinating the functions of the legislature, the
executive and the judiciary in establishing the rule of law. Its bonds with the executive
and the judiciary are equally strong and act as a powerful link between the two powerful
wings of the government. It is a string that binds disparate wings and organs of the
government together and gives it a sense of oneness and belonging while itself remains
en arriere. This explains the sine qua non of the police in state administration while

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denying it a ranking place, as a governing body sui juris like many other organs of the
state administration. The police as a government agency represent the driving force of
the executive and the controlling device of the judiciary. It is the working muscle of the
government. It represents the law of the country and therefore ultimately responsible to
the laws of the country. While it is a part of the executive, its subordination to the
judiciary and responsibility towards the law of the country raise it above the scope of the
executive functions. While it is a part of the judiciary, its position as a handmaid of the
executive, spreads its role above the scope of the judiciary. Ergo, the police is a
government agency that performs functions both within and above the scope of the
executive and judiciary as well as the legislature. The police is a part of all these wings
of the government and subordinate of each to them while outgrow each of them in
professional discharge of its responsibilities au reste. What is required is the realisation
of this sui generis position of the police and preparing itself mentally to discharge these
cardinal responsibilities in compatibility with the professional requirements.

UNITY OF PURPOSE IN INDIAN POLICE

In the current system of policing in India, police stations and district police units
form clavis of the administration. Some of the functions discharged at these levels have
concurrent jurisdiction with some special units at state and national levels. Crime
investigation in special circumstances can be taken over from the district police
administration by the state CID or the CBI at the national level. The police in the state
are devised as an independent unit. In a vast country like India, policing being shared
between myraid independent units with no perspicaciously defined mechanism of
concinnity, the problem occurs of coordination and the unity of purpose in tackling
crimes. Except for the sense of national unity there is nothing common among these
units to appropinquate the gauntlets with a common cause. Even the common Indian
Police Service is unable to bring about a unit of purpose to policing throughout India.
This gives an impression of fragmentation in the Indian police. A fragmented police
cannot turn out work in full-stream owing to the waste by leakage in the process of co-
ordination between the fragmented parts. India must consider devising a pollent unitary

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police administration at the centre with full control over subordinate state and union
terrotory police setups. This would avoid coordination problems and help policing by
allogamy to be more purposeful in tackling challenges from the national perspective. It
also makes available larger resources from the national level for policing apart from
strengthening the sense of belonging to one police. This is the conditio sine qua non for
the perficient policing of the future.

CRIMINAL LAWS

A few glaring anomalies and some erroneous provisions more suo in the extant
criminal laws of India improvise for the easy escapades of criminals from the clutches of
law and the harassment of innocent persons by the law enforcing authorities. The
psellisms of the criminal law have to be plugged imprimis if crime administration has to
be effective in India and command a semblance of respect and confidence of the public.

The police or judicial officer under whose custody a person is kept under
detention should be made responsible by name for the latter’s timely release with a
provision that if detention exceeds the period provided by law, it will make the concerned
officer liable for proceedings for unlawful detention sans the privilege of exemptions
ingenerate to the actions performed in official colour.

CRIMINAL LAW BOARD

India requires the constitution of a statutory Criminal Law Board as an advisory

body to liaise between the criminal justice setup and the union law ministry regarding
criminal laws to facilitate glib process of the criminal justice system. The board, as a
permanent body, may have senior most officers of the central government from home and
law ministries, police and prosecution departments, distinguished humanists and senior
advocates of the Supreme Court as members with the union home minister as its
chairman. It must undertake propaedeutic of the need of changes in criminal laws from
time to time. The board may meet every quarter or a year and discuss extant criminal

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laws and their shortcomings in the light of representations received from officers in the
field from the police and prosecution departments and make proposals for requisite
changes in criminal laws e ra nata.

HUMAN RIGHTS CELLS

Institution of human rights cells in each district and metropolitan city as advisory
conseil to the police of the region with local human rights champions as its members to
draw attention to specific instances of inhuman conduct by subordinate officers would
meet the needs to keep the police on pernoctation against excesses. The human rights
cells should be a dynamic part of the police administration in the regions and its
observations should set in motion a process of verification and peremptory action.
Though subjecting police to the scrutiny of an outside setup may appear a retrograde
measure, it may help the assuefaction of the policing methods to human comports and
saves the establishment from the charges of violation of human rights

STRUCTUAL CHANGES

The first and foremost job to do to bring back the police on rails as a fair dealer in
the process of the criminal justice system is to extricate the police from the epinosic
influence of all hues by making it responsible to an independent Authority with absolute
powers to take decisions on matters of policing and criminal investigation. The Authority
should be a professional body of men and women of proven probity and competence as
members, who reached a stage from where they need not sacrifice their convictions to
appease those in power and standout in foro conscientiae. A working arrangement is to
be devised by which the Authority becomes responsible directly to the legislature and
functions independently a la the judiciary, the Central Vigilance Commission, the
Comptroller and Auditor General or the Chief Election Commissioner.

Creation of a Core Group of people adept in assessing men and character within
the aforesaid Police Authority helps to create a feeling of confidence and job security in

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police and prod to discharge the duties of crime investigation fearlessly. This Group that
oversees the work of police personnel from a distance should be ultimately responsible
for all career decisions in the police force. The responsibility of senior officers in
assessing the work of the subordinates that forms the major embarrassment of the present
Indian police dispensation as the infima species of the kind in the world must be limited
to giving opinion about the performance of their subordinates to the Core Group; the
expert Core Group must process the opinion by its own research, expertise and discretion
and take responsible decision on its own research, expertise and discretion and take
responsible decision on its own. The Group must be made responsible for all
development plans of the police, work assessment, job analyses, recruitment and
management of human resources etc. Institution of such a Core Group to oversee the
career development of police personnel without personal bias may bring revolutionary
changes in the police by committing it to its work ethics and professional telos with
single mindedness to bring in objectivity and fairness to the process of the crime
investigation from the vile prise of those in power and rich and powerful enough to
dictate terms to the police.

PROSECUTION

The weakest link in the chain of the criminal justice system in India ironically is
the cardinal factor of the system namely the prosecution that actually heads and guides
the criminal justice process in countries like the United States of America. The
prosecution as the interface between the investigating agency and the judiciary and
between the investigation and the law is run in India by minor government departments
with all the malaises and malfeasances common to such setups like indifference,
inefficiency, complacency, casualness, corruption and lack of professionalism and
competitive edge. Prosecution is cardinal to criminal justice process and professionalism
and competitive edge constitute the summum bonum of the process as it makes
investigation relevant to the judiciary and judiciary meaningful to the investigation to
emphasise that crime never pays and criminality never succeeds. While investigation
involves indagation of facts and adjudication involves interpretation of laws, prosecution

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is involved in the hard creativity and commitment of rendering the facts d’ accord with
the right interpretation as facilitator of the criminal justice system. In this sense,
prosecution is the syndesis of the process and needs really high-calibre performance to
make the criminal justice system a success. It needs social sensitivity and commitment of
the highest order and competitive edge to fight out the rich and powerful criminals with
the best defence lawyers and creative edge in the service of the truth and justice. It is
easier said than possible in a government setup of the Indian mindset.

An efficacious criminal justice system calls for a sound prosecution mechanism

that is flexible enough to draw the best talents from the open market and reward strictly
by chevisance. The investigating agencies at various levels should have the liberty to pick
the best legal talents in the field as prosecutors for a fixed tenure like five years on a
contract to try their cases at attractive emoluments. The fear of outsiders on contract in
government setups is meaningless in the triste ambience of the profligate insiders of the
independent India. The selection of the right prosecutor cannot be left to any individual at
any rank because of the prolate fall in moral standards of the country. Each district police
unit and state and central investigating agencies must have a statutory prosecutor
selection committee constituted of the principal district Judge or his representative as the
chairman, the Deputy Commissioner of the district, the president of the district Bar
Council and a representative formally appointed by the Deputy Commissioner from the
local Human Rights organization or any public service organization as the members and
the district police chief as the member-secretary for each district, High Court or Supreme
Court Chief Justice or his representative as the chairman, Chief Secretary of the state or
the Cabinet Secretary, the president of the High Court or the Supreme Court Bar Council
and the head of the Human Rights Commission as the members and the chief of the
investigating agency as the secretary-member for the state and the central investigating
agencies for the selection of right prosecutors from the best legal talents in the field for
quantum meruit based on performance for fixed tenures on contract as deemed fit from
time to time. The high nature of the selection committee behoves to the high importance
of the right prosecutors at all levels for the success en semble of the criminal justice
system and the concomitant peace, security and prosperity of the country and its people.

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PRISONS

The place of prisons in the plexus of the criminal justice system is sine qua non in
that it is the guardian of all the condemned persons and the fate of their families and
dependants. Their responsibilities therefore are unenviable. This is especially so in the
circumstances that criminals are not born, but made by the circumstances and the
insensitivities of the society and the society that has spawned criminals out of them
because of its failures has a responsibility towards them to reform and accommodate
them. Sadly, extant prison setups in India as government departments as hubs of
inefficiency, indifference and corruption largely lack sensitivity to the gargantuan task.
The sensitivity of the task as the custodians of the periculous criminals including security
threats further escalates the problem. Powerful and rich criminals of whatever category
living in prisons en prince is common knowledge in this deus avertat country. There are
myriad cases of dangerous criminals running their criminal gangs extra muros from the
precincts of the prisons and even committing murders and sabotages with the patronage
of the corrupt prison officials. Such a prison administration undermines the very purpose
of the criminal justice system.

Indian prison administration needs overhauling a fond without the edifice of its
structure being disturbed. How about a Prisons Management Board for each prison with
the head of the prison as its member-secretary and the head of the prisons department as
the chairman with the Deputy Commissioner of the concerned district, the district police
chief and the district medical officer and two representatives from the local human rights
and social service organizations appointed by the Deputy Commissioner as members
running the administration and statutorily being responsible for the performance of the
prison? It shall deracinate all extant evils of the prison administration and free the hapless
prisoners from all their gratuitous inhuman sufferings and the rich and powerful among
them from being a princely retreat and a haven of safety and security to hide from the
revenge of the opposite groups.

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 The heart of the responsibilities of the criminal justice system is cleansing the
society by bringing criminals to book. Investigation is the prime tool available for this
end. Human rights, justice and equitability before the law make up the essence of the
privileges man enjoys in the social setup. The organisations entrusted with the
responsibility of protecting the rights and doing justice to all with the equitable process of
the criminal justice system en semble are doing a disservice to the professions and
humanity if failed in their cardinal responsibility for want of coordination and synergy in
approach.

PRAVEEN KUMAR
Superintendent of Police
BANGALORE