Thursday, August 28, 2008

CHAPTER OF PLEA BARGAINING IN OUR CONSTITUTION ....

Recently, I have read in a newspaper about the pending cases in our judicial system. There are approximately 1.84 crore cases pending in lower courts in India. This is the main causes that the people loosing their faith in the judiciary. The supreme court in his monthly report about pending cases, direct the other courts to decide the cases as soos as possible, because cases are increasing day by day. There are various speedy trial court or fast track courts and some NGOs trying to wonk on it. Apart from this, a new method was introduced to overcome the work load and resolving the matter quickly. This method or chapter is called as PLEA BARGAINING.
A new chapter XXI – A on plea bargaining has been inserted in the CrPC(1973). Plea bargaining was introduced through criminal law (amendment) Act, 2005, which was passed by parliament on the recommendation of law commission of India. This loosely borrowed from the US model. As the name itself suggest, a plea to bargaining. This provision is likely to bring relief to a large number of under trials lodged in various jails of the country and help reduce the long pendency in the courts. It is applicable only in respect of those offences for which punishment is upto a period of 7 years, it does not apply where such offences affects the socio-economic conditions of the country and offences committed against a woman or a child below the age of 14 are excluded.
The application for plea bargaining should be filed by the accused voluntarily in the court in which such offence is pending for trial and the complainant and the accused are given time to work out a mutually satisfactory disposition of the case, which may include giving to the victim by the accused, compensation and other expenses incurred during the case.
In the event of satisfactory disposition of the case being worked out, the court shall dispose off the case by sentencing the accused to one-fourth of the punishment provided or extendable, as the case may be for such offence.
The most important thing of plea bargaining is the statement or facts stated by an accused in an application for plea bargaining shall not be used for any other purpose other than for plea bargaining. It means, it is not shown as evidence against the accused. The judgment delivered by the court in the case of plea bargaining shall be final and no appeal shall lie in any court against such judgment.
There are some specific conditions that have to be simultaneously met :-
The defendant pleads guilty and proposes a penalty.
The prosecutor agrees.
The victim agrees.
The court agrees.
However, the court may object to the terms of proposed plea bargaining (even if agree between the defendant, victim and prosecutor).
Plea bargaining is frequently used in the modern criminal justice system to move cases through courts speedily and efficiently.
Like, any other system, it has advantages and disadvantages. The advantages of it are many: it reduces the number of full blown jury trials, which in turn reduces workload and expenses of the court and attorneys. Ideally plea bargaining fosters a discussion between the defense and prosecution before the judge but outside a tense trial environment. This leads to more discussion and less arguing which can lead to more fair outcomes for the defendant.
The disadvantages of plea bargainng are, it can be abused by defense and prosecuting attorney alike as a way to clear case load. Innocent people might be persuaded to plead guilty to a crime they did not commit, so that they can avoid the rigor of a trial.
Sometimes the community does not view a plea bargaining as being just, but rather as being a way for criminals to plea and escape ‘real punishment’. Plea bargains do not always lead to the best outcome for a defendant and can be used unfairly by any of the parties involved.
At last, I can say, everything has some disadvantages and advantages. But it is upto the prosecution that how they are taking this chapter of plea bargaining.
If it is taking in a right way, then it will be a boon for criminal judicial system and may be able to solve the remaining pending cases soon.

HAPPY READING,
From,
Mohammed Farhan Khan

3 comments:

Unknown said...

hii m deepika priyanka's freind n thaxx for the article
its realy helpful for me n others who visit ur blog.

Priyanka Choudhary said...

hello.....king khan.....sach mai kya articl likha h .mast yaar.....lawyer sahab..sach mai aapko to writer hona chahiye.......keep it up yaar.....
ab comment to jitne likhu utna hi kam h.....article is best one......

MOHAMMED FARHAN KHAN said...

ohhhhh.....thanx u bollywood beuties .....hahahah.....so i can say that in my blog ....both priyanka chopra n deepika padukone ....pasted some comments....