News > New criminal law bills fail to reimagine crime and punishment

New criminal law bills fail to reimagine crime and punishment

Three colonial-era laws that form the edifice of India’s criminal justice system are all set to be replaced. Unfortunately, the bills that seek to replace them embrace a lot more from the colonial past. Nothing in these bills tells the citizens about their underlying principles. They do not convey what the punishments are expected to achieve in modern India―retribution, reformation or deterrence. They also do not convey what ‘justice’ is in modern India’s criminal justice system.