Dr. Justice V.S. Malimath Report First pages - Ministry of Home Affairs

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minor offence get labeled as criminals and this stigma makes it difficult for
them to get jobs and even a chance to reform and become useful members of
Society. Where such persons are sent to jail, they often come under the
influence of hardened criminals and gravitate towards a life of crime. This is
one of the reasons for suggesting fine and not imprisonment as the only
punishment in respect of large number of minor offences. This logic equally
applies to increasing the number of compoundable offences which while
satisfying the victim do not affect societal interests.
15.6.9 Relevant factors are the following: -
?? Nature of the offence;
?? Degree of violence;
?? Extent of injury to the victim
?? Extent of damage to property;
?? Impact on the society;
?? Any discernible behaviour pattern in commission of the offence;
?? Whether alternative methods of dispute resolution like
compounding or settlement would be adequate.
?? Whether the victim should be compensated monetarily;
?? The punishment prescribed by law for the offence and whether
that is appropriate to the act.
15.6.10 Taking into consideration the above factors, it should be decided
whether for each of the offences the accused should be inflicted punishment of
fine or imprisonment, whether the accused should be arrested or not, whether
the arrest should be with or without the order of the court, or whether the
offence should be bailable or not and whether the offence should be
compoundable or not and if compoundable, whether with or without the order of
the court.
15.6.11 As is done in some countries it may be considered to classify the
offences into three Codes namely (1) The Social Welfare Offence Code (2) The
Correctional Offence Code, (3) The Criminal Offences Code and (4) The
Economic and other Offences Code.
15.6.12 A Social welfare offences Code would include offences that are
social in origin or nature and cover offences that might be prevented through
awareness programmes. For such offences community service is preferred to
jail sentence.
15.6.13 The Correctional offences Code would include non-cognizable
offences that are punishable with less than 6 months imprisonment, which need
not be considered as crimes.