Background:
- In 2017, The Delhi High Court, in its order in the case of Babloo Chauhan @ Dabloo vs. State Govt. of NCT of Delhi expressed grave concern about the state of innocent persons being wrongfully prosecuted.
- It asked the Law Commission to make recommendations on a legislative framework for providing relief and rehabilitation to victims of wrongful prosecution.
Global scenario:
- Internationally, the issue of wrongful prosecution and conviction of innocent persons is identified as ‘miscarriage of justice’.
- The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (‘ICCPR’, ratified by India) also creates an obligation on the State parties to enact a law to compensate the victims of such miscarriage of justice.
Summary of Law Commission Report no. 277:
- This report recommends ‘wrongful prosecution’ to be the standards of miscarriage of justice, as against ‘wrongful conviction’ and ‘wrongful incarceration’.
- ‘Wrongful prosecution’ would include cases where the accused is not guilty of the offence, and the prosecution engaged in misconduct in investigating and/or prosecuting the person.
- It recommends enacting a specific legal provision to provide relief to the victims of wrongful prosecution in terms of monetary and non-monetary compensation (such as counselling, vocational / employment skills development etc.) within a statutory framework.
- Compensation framework: It also enumerates the core principles of the recommended framework –
- Defining ‘wrongful prosecution’ i.e., cases in which claim for compensation can be filed,
- Designation of a Special Court to decide claims of compensation where filed,
- Timeline for deciding the claim,
- financial and other factors to be considered while determining the compensation,
- provisions for interim compensation in certain *cases etc.
