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New Delhi: Home
Secretary R.K. Singh Saturday said the nation's criminal justice
system was at the crossroads and called for immediate remedies.
Addressing the 40th anniversary of the Lok Nayak Jaiprakash
Narayan National Institute of Criminology and Forensic Science
here, Singh said there was a disconnect that needs to be addressed
before India could deliver justice to its people, the primary duty
of a sovereign nation.
"It has been my view for some time now that our criminal justice
system is at crossroads and it needs some remedies very quickly,"
Singh told the gathering of police and judicial officers and
forensic scientists.
"The quality of investigation leaves much to be desired. Our
prosecution, again, leaves much to be desired," he said.
"We do not have, let alone scientific, professional investigation.
We need to professionalise investigation. Scientific investigation
is something which we are still aspiring to," he added.
Noting that most police stations did not have equipment to pick up
fingerprints, the home secretary said: "Scientific investigation
is a far cry. Unless, we take steps to professionalise our
criminal investigation, we will not be able to deliver justice."
He said a person is arrested soon after a crime only if the media
highlighted it. He added that usually people lose interest or
forget about the case and the accused walks free.
"Unless, of course, the people so arrested are so weak and
helpless that they cannot afford a good lawyer, which many times
is often the case. So we end up by convicting innocent people as
well," he said.
With regard to prosecution, Singh said some decades back it got
separated from investigation. "But the results have not been very
good."
Accountability of officers in investigation and prosecution
existed in the 1950s and 1960s because courts began trial
immediately after the charge sheet, Singh said.
"If the case resulted in conviction or acquittal, it was a clear
commentary on the quality of investigation. If there were numerous
acquittals in cases investigated by an officer, then there would
be censure or black mark and they would not get promoted. There
was accountability," he added.
"I am not talking about corruption. It is there on both sides,
investigation and prosecution," he said, in a candid admission.
With regard to actual delivery of justice by courts, the home
secretary said that if a person committed a crime at the age of
40, he "will die a free man, until and unless, he is weak or very
foolish".
"The delays have to be addressed. But I do not know how to do it,"
he said.
Referring to the fast-track courts for speedy trial, Singh noted
that the system has been dispensed with and the government is not
continuing the scheme.
But where would the centre find funds for the incentives?
"For that, we need to find some money. I go the finance ministry
and ask for funds and I am told that police is a state subject. We
need to find the money somewhere. I will be able to persuade my
colleagues in the finance ministry to do that," he said.
Calling forensic labs across the country as "horrendous", Singh
said reports from these labs took two to three years to return to
the investigating officer, by which time he would have been
transferred.
"There are huge vacancies (in labs). Nobody takes interest in the
states," he added.
Calling these issues as "disconnects" in the justice delivery
system that need to be addressed, Singh said this would happen
only if the states looked at justice delivery as its primary
responsibility, as it does so with regard to law and order at
present.
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