Haryana: Community service guidelines notified for first-time offenders

The state government on Monday notified the Community Service Guidelines, 2025, aimed at engaging low-risk, first-time offenders in “structured socially useful work” while helping to address the chronic issue of congested jails.

Under the new policy, which has got the nod of the court, the judges will have the discretion of assigning community service in place of imprisonment to “eligible offenders”. The assignment can range from a certain duration of the sentence to the entire sentence.

Speaking to The Tribune, ACS (Administration of Justice Department) Sumita Misra said, “Nobody has done such a comprehensive exercise on kinds of service and the categories of offenders. It provides a framework where justice restores as much as it corrects,” she stated, adding that the idea was not to diminish the seriousness of the offence but to harness them as moments of transformation.

From the cleaning of open spaces and parks, cleanliness of classrooms in government educational institutions, assisting municipal staff in sapling plantation along riverbanks, traffic regulation to contributing towards social audit surveys, assisting in rural health centres, upkeep of heritage sites and participating in campaigns like Swachh Bharat and Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao, the guidelines lay down 17 kinds of community service.

While a judge can prescribe any kind of community service, the guidelines lay down that an order on community service, as a form of punishment, will require to specify the exact number of hours or days of service and a time frame within which it is to be completed, the place, the officer who will supervise and the term of imprisonment or fine or both in case the offender defaults in performing the task.

While the offender would learn something meaningful through the service, biometric attendance, geo-tagged photos and videos, and regular progress reports will be used to maintain accountability. “We will submit these to the court to track compliance in real time,” Misra explained, adding that a list of nodal officers who will monitor the community service performed by an offender, too, had been provided as a part of the guidelines.

The guidelines recommend that “community service should generally be awarded to first-time offenders”.

Special provisions have been made for vulnerable groups. While juveniles can be ordered to participate in NCC training, skill-building workshops, and environment projects, women offenders will be assigned work in safe spaces like Nari Niketans, anganwadi centres, maternity wards, and childcare facilities.