CJI Khanna underlines need for reforms to promote compassionate, humane justice

He said that President Murmu’s “timely observations have brought about critical focus to the concerning phenomenon… in which I will include both judges and lawyers.”

Explaining this further, he cited the example of the rich and the poor having to come to court, only to see the hearing getting deferred. “To the rich, it makes no difference because they work continuously. But what happens when a rickshaw-puller or a person who depends upon daily wages spends the whole day in court and then they are informed that they have to come the next week. He loses an entire day’s wages, he has to pay the fees of the lawyer and also ensure that food for children and family is made,” the CJI said.

CJI Khanna also cited an example from personal experience, which he said “showed me that the most difficult court in Delhi to handle is the traffic challan court.”

The CJI said, “We have enhanced traffic challans, yes the enhancement was required to make punishment severe. But the impact thereof is mostly felt by the self-earning, who have taken the vehicles on EMI. They are self-employed; they employ others. The moment the vehicle is impounded and a fine of Rs five-six thousand is imposed every month, he is down, he is not able to pay the EMIs or look after his family and children. This is why there was violence and shouting in the traffic challan courts. We emphasised this and took up this issue with the judges, and to some extent we were able to handle that situation.”

On how to ensure and promote compassionate and humane justice, the CJI said, “criminal courts are the areas which require a lot of emphasis, and the laws require reforms. We have decriminalized a number of laws but a lot of work is still in progress. This becomes particularly important if we look at prison population and the number of undertrial prisoners.”

CJI Khanna pointed out that “the national capacity of prisons is 4,36,266, but our prisons currently house 5,19,193 inmates, which means they are over housed by 119%. This overcrowding particularly affects undertrials, severing their ties with society. Such disconnect pushes them into a spiral of criminalisation and makes reintegration a challenging task.”

The CJI said that the Section 479 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 is a significant step to challenge this. “This progressive provision adopts a humanitarian approach by allowing first-time offenders to be released if they have spent one-third of their potential maximum punishment period in custody. It acknowledges a crucial reality – prolonged undertrial detention affects the presumption of innocence while trapping individuals, especially those from marginalized backgrounds, in deepening cycles of disadvantage and societal alienation,” the CJI said.