Law student moves SC, seeks law to compensate, rehabilitate victims of wrongful prosecution

Tribune News Service
New Delhi, June 10

A final year law student of New Law College, Pune on Wednesday moved the Supreme Court seeking a law to compensate and rehabilitate accused acquitted after languishing in jails for years on account of wrongful prosecution.

“The sole purpose of this petition is to compensate and rehabilitate those persons who are the victims of the legal system,” petitioner Yash Giri, who hails from Noida, submitted.

To buttress his point, he cited National Crime Relations Bureau data which showed that there were more undertrial prisoners than convicts in jails. He also sought to highlight the fact that the conviction rate in India was merely 48% and more than 50% accused were acquitted.

Contending that there was no perpetual statute to decide the theory of compensation to be applied in the case a person was wrongfully prosecuted or incarcerated, Giri requested the top court to direct the government to implement the Law Commission’s 277th report which suggested legal remedies for wrongful prosecution.

He urged the court to interpret Section 2(wa) of the Criminal Procedure Code which defines the expression “Victim”, and Section 357-A of the Code under which in coordination with the Centre, a state government prepares a scheme for providing compensation to the victim or his/her dependents who have suffered loss or injury as a result of the crime.

“In the case, if the accused is acquitted after spending many years behind bars naturally makes him the victim of the system, thus the compensation and rehabilitation should be awarded to the acquitted person who has suffered as a result of the crime.

“This happens when the person is wrongfully prosecuted and the delay in the legal system leads to the accused languishing in jail, thus the same is violative of the basic spirit of Article 21 of Constitution (right to life and liberty),” the petitioner said.

Some amount of compensation or rehabilitation scheme would help such a victim to gain back his/her reputation and build a fruitful life again with dignity, he added.