Criminal justice system in Goa
CRIMINAL JUSTICE INDIA SERIES — Volume 9 Goa: N. R. Madhava Menon — General Editor; Allied Publishers Pvt. Ltd., & National University of Juridical Sciences, 17, Chittaranjan Avenue, Kolkata-700002. Rs. 240.
INDIA'S CRIMINAL justice system, with its deep and pervasive problems, is largely the province (pun intended) of the states, and as N. R. Madhava Menon points out in the preface to this book, "the absence of reliable data inhibit[s] intelligent reform."
The book focusses on Goa but contains many insights of wider application. Apart from historical and current facts and figures relating to the police, prosecution, courts and prisons, it documents nuggets of unofficial data such as the fact that each court puts 40 cases on the cause list daily, summons about 100 witnesses but hears only a few.
Inquisitorial system
Interestingly, Goa has a uniform civil code. However, to the non-Goan reader, the best part of the book is elsewhere. The Justice V.S. Malimath Committee has proposed a shift towards a "quest for the truth", away from the magistrate's passive umpire role and recommended changes to the law of evidence and criminal procedure pointing out that the inquisitorial system is practised in several democracies.
The Committee's Report is considered almost blasphemous by many brought up on the Anglo-Saxon adversarial model. This is where this book is important — Goa for 451 years had an inquisitorial system.
Some interesting features — there were no restrictive rules of evidence; statements to the police were admissible; if witnesses contradicted each other, the magistrate could summon and question them together; adjournments were rare.
The book concludes that there is no reason to think that the Portuguese system was worse — and it was faster.
The introduction contains unusual and unconventional ideas derived from lateral thinking, drawing on the rich practical experience of the contributors, J. K.Thampi, P.V. Sinari, L.L.T. Gracias, V.V.Vernekar and Ajay Thomas. It is worth reading by anyone interested in cleaning the Augean stables of our criminal justice system.
T. V. SOMANATHAN
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Book Review
