Lauding the Centre’s move to implement Inter-Operable Criminal Justice System, All India Bar Association has said it will make the system more robust and help to track criminals, solve crimes and make India a safer place.
This government effort fulfills a long standing demand and need of mapping “individuals with criminal records, said All India Bar Association chairman Dr. Adish C Aggarwala , “It is going to be a major leap forward by digitizing the criminal justice records and making it accessible to law enforcement agencies, laboratories and courts,” he said.
Not only will it make far more difficult for persons to escape the consequences of their criminal acts, it will also ensure that none, either the guilty or the innocent, is forgotten and that justice is equally meted to all.” – added Dr. Adish C Aggarwala.
Apart from saving time, it will also make the system more efficient in tracking criminals, solve crimes and make India a safer place, said Senior Advocate Dr Aggarwala.
Asked to elaborate, he said the current criminal justice system has a major lacuna as vital information is spread into isolated databases which are neither accessible nor integrated with all authorities concerned. Ingenious criminals take advantage of this by manipulating and presenting distorted versions before the different stakeholders. In the absence of an efficient system to track him, a person often goes scot free after committing a crime by simply assuming a fake identity.
A person released on bail can escape trial by simply changing his address. The worst placed are victims of non-cognizable offences or others who have to pursue their complaints in court by themselves, said the legal expert.
Any time during trial, the said person may escape the system by simply changing his address and not disclosing the new address. It is an ardous task of finding the address of offenders, getting the accused persons served with summons and ensuring their appearance in court till the case culminates into a final judgment, said Dr Aggarwala.
In the absence of an Inter-Operable Criminal Justice System, a shrewd criminal, operating under different names and identities. manages to hoodwink the system and it is impossible to bring such persons to justice as it is not possible for the police to constantly monitor the activities and whereabouts of all accused persons who are not in prison, he said.
The bar association chief said the criminal laws of India no longer are suited for the society as they were framed at a time when social ties were strong and every individual was known to the community. At that time, a person who shifted to a different place could be tracked with the aid of relatives and other persons in localities.
“Today, this is no longer possible and, therefore, there is a crying need of the system to track individuals without depending upon local cues, as has been formulated in other developed countries,” he said.