In the modern era, crime rates have increased all around the world, and India is no exception to it. The main legislations which govern criminal law in India are the Indian Penal Code, of 1860, The Indian Evidence Act, of 1872, and The Code of Criminal Procedure, of 1973. Before analyzing the Sentencing Policy in India, we need to first differentiate the terms ‘sentencing’ and ‘punishment’. Sentencing is basically a statement provided in the judgments which show the quantum of punishment for a particular offence as per the law. And when this sentence is put into action or operationalized, then it becomes punishment.
Now, before we discuss various kinds of policies adopted in awarding punishment, it is important to understand what actually a sentencing policy should constitute. Different nations across the world adopt different theories of punishment. Some nations believe in awarding punishment to the wrongdoer whereas, on the other hand, some nations believe in rehabilitation of the criminal. All these types of theories which a nation adopts are clearly visible in its sentencing policy. Talking about our nation i.e. India, there exists no such set of guidelines that the court of law adopts. Neither the legislature nor the judiciary has issued any sort of structured sentencing guidelines.
Section 53 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 describes various types of punishments that a court of law can give to a wrongdoer while awarding punishment. They are:
However, in March 2003, a Committee was formed by the Ministry of Home Affairs to look into the Reforms of the Criminal Justice System. This committee was named the Malimath Committee. This committee issued a report emphasizing the need for sentencing guidelines that a court of law must adopt in awarding punishments. The committee highlighted the fact that The Indian Penal Code, of 1860 consists of several offences where only utmost punishment is described and there are some offences where only minimum is described. Which gives the Judges wider discretion while awarding the sentence to a wrongdoer. Now, since every judge has their own philosophy while awarding the sentence, therefore, there is no such uniformity.
The Committee advised further that, so as to bring “predictability within the matter of sentencing,” a statutory committee should be established “to lay guidelines on sentencing guidelines under the Chairmanship of a former Judge of Supreme Court or a former Jurist of a High Court experienced in criminal law with other members representing the prosecution, legal profession, police, social scientist and women representative.” The reason behind that different members are advised so that the guidelines on sentencing policy cannot be influenced as much as possible. In 2008, the Committee on Draft National Policy on Criminal Justice (the Madhava Menon Committee), reasserted the need for statutory sentencing guidelines. In an October 2010 news report, the Law Minister stated that the government is planning to establish a “uniform sentencing policy” in line with the United States of America and the United Kingdom so as to ensure uniformity while awarding sentences. However despite all such recommendations, still there are no steps taken by the legislature to form uniform sentencing guidelines.
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