Malimath Committee

MALIMATH COMMITTEE REPORT ON POLICE FUNCTIONING

CRIMINOLOGY ASSIGNMENT Done by B.MARIA NATALIA VTH Year Section:B Ho 7083

TABLE OF CONTENT INTRODUCTION THE TERMS OF REFERENCE OF THE MALIMATH COMMITTEE STRATEGIES ADOPTED BY THE COMMITTEE POLICE FUNCTIONING AND THE RIGHTS OF ACCUSED INVESTIGATION NEED FOR LAW AND SOCIETY TO TRUST THE POLICE CONCLUSION BIBLIOGRAPHY

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INTRODUCTION The ultimate aim of criminal law is protection of right to personal liberty against invasion by others – protection of the weak against the strong law abiding against lawless, peaceful against the violent. To protect the rights of the citizens, the State prescribes the rules of conduct, sanctions for their violation, machinery to enforce sanctions and procedure to protect that machinery. It is utter selfishness, greed and intolerance that lead to deprivation of life, liberty and property of other citizens requiring the State to step in for protection of the citizens’ rights. James Madison writes in his book The Federalist that “if men were angels no government would be necessary”. It is the primary function of the government to protect the basic rights to life and property. The State has to give protection to persons against lawlessness, disorderly behaviour, violent acts and fraudulent deeds of others. Liberty cannot exist without protection of the basic rights of the citizens by the Government. The Committee on Reforms of the Criminal Justice System was constituted by the Government of India, Ministry of Home Affairs by its order dated 24 November 2000, to consider measures for revamping the Criminal Justice System. (Annexure-1). This was the first time that the State had constituted such a Committee for a thorough and comprehensive review of the entire Criminal Justice System so that necessary and effective systematic reforms can be made to improve the health of the system. Prison administration is one of the functionaries of the Criminal Justice System. However, it does not fall within the mandate of the Committee. All the earlier initiatives were of a limited character to bring about reforms in the relevant laws, substantive and procedural laws, judicial reforms or police reforms. The Committee was required to take into account the recommendations made by the Law Commission of India, the Conference of Chief Ministers on Internal Security, the Report of Task Force on Internal security and Padmanabhaiah Committee Report on Police Reforms. The Committee was constituted under the Chairmanship of Justice V.S.Malimath, former Chief Justice of Karnataka and Kerala High Courts, Chairman, Central Administrative Tribunal and Member of the Human Rights Commission. The other members of the Committee are Sri S. Varadachary, IAS (Retd), former Advisor, Planning Commission of India and Sri Amitabh Gupta, former Director General of Police, Rajasthan. Sri Durgadas Gupta, Joint Secretary (Judicial), Ministry of Home Affairs was made the Secretary. On the recommendation of the Committee Justice Sri T.S. Arunachalam, former Judge of Madras High Court and Prof. N.R.Madhava Menon, Vice-Chancellor, West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences were co3

opted. Later, Justice Sri. T.S.Arunachalam tendered his resignation on personal grounds where-upon Sri D.V.Subba Rao, Advocate who also happens to be Chairman of the Bar Council of India was co-opted in his place. Sri Durgadas Gupta, Secretary of the Committee was made the Member Secretary of the Committee. Sri C.M.Basavarya, former District Judge and Registrar of the Karnataka High Court was appointed as Executive Director so that the Committee has the benefit of trial court experience in criminal matters. The term of the Committee, which was six months from the date of its first sitting, was extended till 31 March 2003. Thus it may be noted that there was a wholesome combination of expertise of all the relevant fields --the Judiciary, the Bar, the Police, the legal academic and administrator.

THE TERMS OF REFERENCE OF THE MALIMATH COMMITTEE i. To examine the fundamental principles of criminal jurisprudence, including the constitutional provisions relating to criminal jurisprudence and see if any modifications or amendments are required thereto; ii. To examine in the light of findings on fundamental principles and aspects of criminal jurisprudence as to whether there is a need to re-write the Code of Criminal Procedure, the Indian Penal Code and the Indian Evidence Act to bring them in tune with the demand of the times and in harmony with the aspirations of the people of India; iii. To make specific recommendations on simplifying judicial procedures and practices and making the delivery of justice to the common man closer, faster, uncomplicated and inexpensive; iv. To suggest ways and means of developing such synergy among the judiciary, the Prosecution and the Police as restores the confidence of the common man in the Criminal Justice System by protecting the innocent and the victim and by punishing unsparingly the guilty and the criminal; v. To suggest sound system of managing, on professional lines, the pendency of cases at investigation and trial stages and making the Police, the Prosecution and the Judiciary accountable for delays in their respective domains; vi. To examine the feasibility of introducing the concept of “Federal Crime” which can be put on List I in the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution. 4

The terms of reference are very wide and comprehensive. They require the Committee to examine the fundamental principles of criminal jurisprudence and relevant constitutional provisions and to suggest if any modifications or amendments are needed. If, on such review the Committee finds that any amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure, the Indian Penal Code or the Indian Evidence Act are necessary to bring them in tune with the demands of time and the aspirations of the people, it can make necessary recommendations. The Committee is not called upon to take up a general review of all these three statutes. The mandate of the Committee is limited to recommending only such amendments to these statutes as may be necessary in the light of its findings on review of the fundamental principles of criminal jurisprudence. Therefore, the Committee has not undertaken any general review of these Statutes. The well recognised fundamental principles of criminal jurisprudence are ‘presumption of innocence and right to silence of the accused’, ‘burden of proof on the Prosecution’ and the ‘right to fair trial’. Examination of ‘Adversarial System’ followed in India being an aspect of the concept of ‘fair trial’ fell within the purview of the Committee. Simplifying judicial procedures and practices, bringing about synergy among the judiciary, the Prosecution and Police, making the system simpler, faster, cheaper and people-friendly, and restoring the confidence of the common man were the other responsibilities of the Committee.

This includes improving

the investigation and trial procedures on professional lines for expeditious dispensation of justice and making the functionaries accountable. The Committee was also required to examine if the concept of ‘Federal Crimes’, can be put in List 1 of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution so that it becomes the exclusive responsibility of the Central Government.

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STRATEGIES ADOPTED BY THE COMMITTEE Realizing the importance and magnitude of the task, the Committee decided to reach out to every section of the society, which has a stake in the system, directly or indirectly. Accordingly the Committee decided to: (1) Prepare a questionnaire and obtain responses from all walks of society. (2) Organize seminars on important issues in different parts of the country. (3) Participate in seminars or meetings organised by others. (4) Meet citizens from different States hailing from different walks of life. (5) Obtain the views of the State Governments. (6) Obtain the views of the High Courts and the Judges. (7) Obtain the views of Central and State Bar Councils and members of the Bar. (8) Seek the views of Attorney General and Advocate Generals of the States. (9) Obtain the views of the Heads of Police Departments. (10) Obtain the views of the Heads of Prosecution Departments. (11) Obtain the views of the Forensic Scientists. (12) Obtain the views of the academics in law. (13) Obtain the views of the media persons. (14) Get research done by scholars on important topics. (15) Study the relevant reports of the Law Commission of India, Report of Dharmavira Committee, Report of Padmanabhaiah Committee, Report of Vohra Committee, Report of Task Force on internal security, Report of Chief Ministers conference on Internal Security and other Commissions on topics relevant to the Criminal Justice System. (16) Study the Criminal Justice Systems in U.K, Australia, France, USA and other countries and the reforms undertaken by them. (17) Make a comparative study of Criminal Justice Systems in 20 selected countries from different continents. (18) Interact with experts from different countries in the world. (19) Examine Reports of the National Crime Bureau upto 2000.

POLICE FUNCTIONING AND THE RIGHTS OF ACCUSED

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The overarching aim of the Criminal Justice System should be to find out the truth. The person who is most likely to know the truth of an offence which has been committed, is the offender himself. It must be emphasized that the suspect/accused like the other players in the Criminal Justice System can also contribute to the search for truth. It is true that except where there has been a voluntary confession, the suspect/accused is unlikely to incriminate himself; to which in a democracy, he is entitled to under the rights guaranteed to him by the Constitution. INVESTIGATION The machinery of Criminal Justice System is put into gear when an offence is registered and then investigated. A prompt and quality investigation is therefore the foundation of the effective Criminal Justice System. Police are employed to perform multifarious duties and quite often the important work of expeditious investigation gets relegated in priority. A separate wing of investigation with clear mandate that it is accountable only to Rule of Law is the need of the day. Most of the Laws, both substantive as well as procedural were enacted more than 100 years back. quantitatively.

Criminality has undergone a tremendous change qualitatively as well as

Therefore the apparatus designed for investigation has to be equipped with laws and

procedures to make it functional in the present context. If the existing challenges of crime are to be met effectively, not only the mindset of investigators needs a change but they have to be trained in advanced technology, knowledge of changing economy, new dynamics of social engineering, efficacy and use of modern forensics etc. Investigation Agency is understaffed, ill equipped and therefore the gross inadequacies in basic facilities and infrastructure also needed attention on priority. NEED FOR LAW AND SOCIETY TO TRUST THE POLICE There is need for the Law and the society to trust the police and the police leadership to ensure improvement in their credibility. In the above back drop following recommendations are made: The Investigation Wing should be separated from the Law and Order Wing. National Security Commission and the State Security Commissions at the State level should be constituted, as recommended by the National Police Commission. To improve quality of investigation the following measures shall be taken: i. The post of an Additional SP may be created exclusively for supervision of crime. 7

ii. Another Additional SP in each Dist. should be made responsible for collection, collation and dissemination of criminal intelligence; maintenance and analysis of crime data and investigation of important cases . iii. Each State should have an officer of the IGP rank in the State Crime Branch exclusively to supervise the functioning of the Crime Police. The Crime Branch should have specialised squads for organised crime and other major crimes. iv. Grave and sensational crimes having inter-State and transnational ramifications should be investigated by a team of officers and not by a single IO. v. The Sessions cases must be investigated by the senior-most police officer posted at the police station. vi. Fair and transparent mechanisms shall be set up in place where they do not exist and strengthened where they exist, at the District Police Range and State level for redressal of public grievances. vii. Police Establishment Boards should be set up at the police headquarters for posting, transfer and promotion etc of the District. Level officers. viii. The existing system of Police Commissioner’ s office which is found to be more efficient in the matter of crime control and management shall be introduced in the urban cities and towns. ix. Dy.SP level officers to investigate crimes need to be reviewed for reducing the burden of the Circle Officers so as to enable them to devote more time to supervisory work. x. Criminal cases should be registered promptly with utmost promptitude by the SHOs . xi. Stringent punishment should be provided for false registration of cases and false complaints. Section 182/211 of IPC be suitably amended xii. Specialised Units/Squads should be set up at the State and District. level for investigating specified category crimes. xiii. A panel of experts be drawn from various disciplines such as auditing, computer science, banking, engineering and revenue matters etc. at the State level from whom assistance can be sought by the investigating officers . xiv. With emphasis on compulsory registration of crime and removal of difference between non-cognizable and cognizable offences, the work load of investigation agencies would increase considerately. Additionally, some investigations would be required to be done by a team of investigators. For liquidating the existing pendency, and, for prompt and quality investigation including increase in the number of Investigating Officers is of utmost importance. It is recommended that such number be increased at least two-fold during the next three years. xv.

Similarly for ensuring effective and better quality of supervision of investigation, the number of

supervisory officers (additional SPs/Dy.SP) should be doubled in next three years. 8

xvi. Infrastructural facilities available to the Investigating Officers specially in regard to accommodation, mobility, connectivity, use of technology, training facilities etc. are grossly inadequate and they need to be improved on top priority. It is recommended a five year rolling plan be preparedand adequate funds are made available to meet the basic requirements of personnel and infrastructure of the police. CONCLUSION In fairness, the Committee’s goals of rectifying judicial delay and improving the conviction rate are laudable, and some of the reforms suggested are quite welcome. For example, it recommends better training for police, judges, and prosecutors. The Committee was particularly concerned with excessive judicial vacations and poor handling of dockets and with public distrust of police. There are good suggestions regarding specific crimes, and some of the results of blurring the distinction between cognizable and non-cognizable crimes would be beneficial.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Committee on Reforms of Criminal Justice System Government of India, Ministry of Home Affairs. 2. J . Y Umranikar, Police Reforms In India-A step towards good governance.(Ist Edn ,2009)

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