Procedural law ensures fair and principled criminal justice

Source: The post Procedural law ensures fair and principled criminal justice has been created, based on the article “Principled criminalisation and the police as pivot” published in “The Hindu” on 15 May 2025. Procedural law ensures fair and principled criminal justice.

UPSC Syllabus Topic: GS Paper 2-Governance – Justice

Context: A recent Supreme Court judgment in Imran Pratapgarhi vs State of Gujarat has brought attention to the importance of procedural criminal law. It highlights how the police’s adherence to the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) is essential to ensure lawful and principled criminalisation.

Meaning and Purpose of Criminalisation

1. Power and Duty of the State: Criminalisation allows the state to define wrongful conduct as crime and impose penalties. It is also a duty—to address harm by holding individuals accountable through legal means.
2. Criminal Law Within Society: Legal theorist Victor Tadros explains that criminalisation works within broader social systems—like families and private law—that also address wrongdoing.
3. Value Beyond Outcomes: Criminalisation is not just about punishment or deterrence. It carries independent value by publicly condemning harmful acts through a legal process.

Principles Behind Substantive Criminal Law

1. Guiding Criteria for Criminalisation: Tatjana Hörnle identifies three core principles: conduct should be criminalised only if it harms collective interests, involves personal violence, or violates the right to non-intervention. These guide India’s substantive criminal law under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
2. Imbalances in Application: Despite clear principles, laws may still result in over-criminalisation or under-criminalisation depending on how they are applied in practice.

Role of Procedure in Shaping Outcomes

1. Procedural Law and Real-World Impact: Criminalisation becomes real through steps like arrest, charge, and sentencing. These depend on how justice agencies, especially police, use procedural law.
2. Police as Gatekeepers: The police lead the process by registering cases and arresting suspects. Their discretion significantly shapes criminalisation outcomes.
3. Risks of Overreach: Without limits, police may over-criminalise minor acts while neglecting serious offences. This can distort justice.
4. Section 173(3) of BNSS: This provision allows a 14-day preliminary inquiry before filing an FIR in offences punishable by three to seven years. It seeks to prevent unnecessary or hasty criminalisation.

Supreme Court Ruling and Its Message

1. The Imran Pratapgarhi Case: The Court quashed an FIR against Mr. Pratapgarhi for sharing a poem. Police failed to follow Section 173(3), which required a preliminary inquiry.
2. Protecting Constitutional Freedoms: The judgment underlines that procedural safeguards must be respected, especially when fundamental rights like free speech are involved.
3. Need for Accountability: For criminalisation to remain principled, both sound laws and responsible policing are essential. Procedural law must be followed, and police must be held accountable.

Question for practice:

Examine the role of procedural criminal law in ensuring lawful and principled criminalisation, in light of the Imran Pratapgarhi vs State of Gujarat judgment.