This article is authored by Philip John First Year law student of B.A. LLB at the National University of Advanced Legal Studies Kochi and Manna Elza John pursuing law from Government Law College Thiruvananthapuram.
“The breath of accusation kills an innocent name, and leaves for lame acquittal the poor life , which is a mask without it”
– Percy Bysshe Shelly
INTRODUCTION
Last week , a class 12 student arrested on the basis of a complaint filed by a minor girl accusing him of raping and impregnating her , was granted bail by a court in Malappuram district of Kerala. The bail was granted after the DNA test results came in favor of him. The police stated that “ he was booked under Section 164 of the CrPC based on the statement provided by the minor girl against him to the doctor, woman police officers and the magistrate” 1. Recent judgments reveal that the rate of wrongful convictions in India is increasing at an alarming rate. The Authorities have already perfected their escape plans with their usual blame game. Afterall, it’s just another day at work for them. But one can only imagine what the victims go through. Wrongful conviction not only results in loss of years, but it can also create social stigma even after being released. Such an experience also takes a deep toll on the victim’s mental and physical health. It is not only the victim that goes through all these ordeals, his/her family are also forced to go through it. And the most problematic aspect of Wrongful Conviction is the overrepresentation of the poor and weaker sections of the society among its victims.2 This factor alone weakens one of the most basic and fundamental principles of our Constitution, that is, the Right to Equality. In this article, I will analyse the recommendations made by The Law Commission of India in its 277th Report with the title “Wrongful Prosecution (Miscarriage of Justice): Legal Remedies” in 2018 and the challenges associated with its enforcement due to lack of a statutory framework. Then this article will explore and conduct a comparative study about the different legislations regarding this topic in foreign jurisdictions for reference. Then we will discuss about the remedial measures we can enforce in order to prevent such miscarriage of justice in the future.
Even though the Indian Justice System works on the principle of “Fiat Justita Ruat Coelum” which means “Let justice be done though the heavens fall”, the interest of judiciary in wrongful conviction is a recent development, mainly because of the advancements made in the domain of DNA Analysis. According to Oxford Bibliographies , Wrongful conviction is an broad term that is mainly used to describe a situation in which an innocent person is convicted for a crime he or she did not commit and the actual perpetrator of the crime goes free.3 There are other instances where wrongful convictions happen due to unfair trials and tampering of evidence. The first DNA test to prove a person’s innocence in court was first used in a criminal trial in England in 1986.4 Since then the courts have always tried to minimise wrongful convictions with the aid of such assistive technologies.
THE MAIN CAUSES OF WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS
- False Confession: In about 30% of the cases where the defendants were acquitted , records show that they either made self-incriminating statements, delivered outright confessions or pleaded guilty. This indicates that confessions are not always prompted by actual guilt , but are sometimes given due to external influences.
- Inadequate or insufficient Defense Counsel provided by the Government: In most of the cases the accused is provided with an inefficient lawyer by the state. The accused is deserted by the only person who can help him. The legal system will not properly function if both parties are not represented by efficient and well trained practitioners of law. This is especially true if the defendants are from poor and marginalised communities.
- Mistakes made by the witnesses: This is one of the most obvious but commonly made errors in the process. According to a study conducted by Western Michigan University, Eyewitness error is the main cause of Wrongful Convictions in the US, playing a role in 72% of convictions overturned through DNA Testing. 6
In 2018, The Law Commission of India (Chair: B.S Chauhan) submitted its report on “Wrongful Prosecution (Miscarriages of Justice): Legal Remedies”. The report was prepared following a Delhi High Court directive in 2016 where the Commission was asked to recommend remedies for eradicating wrongful convictions. The Commission noted that currently there is no legislative framework to provide relief to those who are wrongfully convicted.7 The Commission recommended amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC), to award compensation to the victims of wrongful conviction. The scope of wrongful conviction also include malicious prosecution and prosecution without good faith.
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) was ratified by India in the year 1979.It is a multilateral treaty adopted by the United Nations. Most of the countries who ratified the treaty has made significant progress in integrating the provisions of this treaty with their judicial system. But even after ratifying ICCPR, India has till date failed to implement any domestic legislations for the rehabilitation and compensation for the victims of wrongful conviction. Even though there is a scope to claim compensation under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, the matter is entirely up to the discretion of the court. Therefore, India is in dire need of a legal framework which exclusively deals with the Prevention, Compensation and Rehabilitation of the Wrongfully Convicted.
CONCLUSION
Though we can see considerable improvements in this area such as when the Gwalior Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court delivered an important judgement in Kailash vs State of Madhya Pradesh, 2021. In the aforementioned case, the court observed that “The lackadaisical attitude of the State Police to arrest anyone and put him in police custody has made the appellant to suffer the ignominy. The dignity of a person gets shocked when psycho-pathological treatment is meted out to him. A human being cries for justice when he feels that the insensible act has crucified his self-respect. That warrants grant of compensation under the public law remedy. We are absolutely conscious that a civil suit has been filed for grant of compensation. That will not debar the constitutional court to grant compensation taking recourse to public law. The Court cannot lose sight of the wrongful imprisonment, malicious prosecution, the humiliation and the defamation faced by the appellant.” 8 India needs to implement a powerful legislation in order to completely fill this lacunae. I look forward to learning about and from the developments India is going to make to eradicate Wrongful Convictions.
References
- TNM Staff, Kerala student accused of rape gets bail as DNA test returns negative, The News Minutes(30/08/21) available at https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/kerala-student-accused-rape-gets-bail-dna-test-returns-negative-154563 last visited on 15/09/2021
- Rutberg, Susan, “Wrongfully Convicted: The Overrepresentation of the Poor” (2011). Publications. Paper 441.http://digitalcommons.law.ggu.edu/pubs/441 last visited on 15/09/2021
- Marvin Zalman, Wrongful Conviction, Oxford Bibliographies, (last seen on 15/09/2021, 23.25) available at https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195396607/obo-9780195396607-0118.xml
- Celia Henry Arnaud , Thirty years of DNA forensics: How DNA has revolutionized criminal investigations ,CEN, (last seen on 15/09/2021, 23.30) available at https://cen.acs.org/analytical-chemistry/Thirty-years-DNA-forensics-DNA/95/i37
- Department of Sociology, Causes of Wrongful Conviction, Western Michigan University , (last seen on 15/09/2021, 23.30) available at https://wmich.edu/sociology/causes-wrongful-conviction
- Department of Sociology, Causes of Wrongful Conviction, Western Michigan University , (last seen on 15/09/2021, 23.30) available at https://wmich.edu/sociology/causes-wrongful-conviction
- PRS Correspondent, Wrongful Prosecution (Miscarriage of Justice): Legal Remedies, PRS India, (last seen on 15/09/2021, 23.30) available at https://prsindia.org/policy/report-summaries/wrongful-prosecution-miscarriage-justice-legal-remedies
- Kailash vs State Of Madhya Pradesh, 2021 available at https://indiankanoon.org/doc/71261607/
