Apprehending Criminals Post Conviction

In the IT age, it is easy to keep watch on malefactors without confining them physically.

- Ashutosh Kumar Agarwal

There is a famous proverb in criminal jurisprudence which says that an accused is presumed to be innocent before his conviction. Subjecting him to third degree methods in police custody to extort confession is wrong when the technology of the day has made it possible by the use of information technology gadgets.

These gadgets are capable of being carried manually and may also be used as wallets and as proof of identity to gain entry in a locality including one where he is residing. The need is to enact laws to give them recognition in the eyes of law.

Let the process of apprehending the criminals may start only (i) from the post conviction stage effectively and that too without any physical torture (ii) keeping his source of earning viz. service or profession/ business intact so that minimum hardships are faced by the dependent members of convict’s family too. On the other hand the factum of actual loss to the victim and his family must not be lost sight of.

Suppose there is death of the victim, resulting in a direct loss suffered by his family. In such cases the court has to order rehabilitation of the sufferers without looking into the quality of mens-rea or guilty mind of the accused.