Access to Justice Through Plea-Bargaining Under Indian Legal System: An Alternative Dispute Redressal Mechanisms
- NLR Journal
- Apr 5
- 2 min read
By Dr. Sadanand Pandit, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, The ICFAI University, Solan, H.P.
Abstract
The plan of plea-bargaining can be observed as an alternative dispute redressal mechanism to deal with the backlog cases pending before Indian judiciary. Although, the idea of plea-bargaining was part of Indian culture and tradition. There was a provision for apology if one repents one’s offence. In this procedure, the parties of criminal cases make mutually agreeable agreement of the offence which is approved by the adjudicatory authority later. Such kind of negotiated justice is applied to reduce the number of criminal cases which is pending for three or five years. This mechanism is adopted as an alternative dispute redressal process to resolve the challenges of overburdened courts, overcrowded jails and abnormal delays. It is among the many ways to end a criminal case without holding a formal trial for the accused. An accused charged of an offence intending to avail the benefit of negotiated justice may file an application for the purpose in the court in which such offence is pending for trial. It is a different approach to handling the massive backlog of criminal cases. It was adopted by the legislature in response to several recommendations made by the law commission. The paper explores the applicability and usability of plea-bargaining in order to accomplish the aim and objects of this new mechanism. The article also explains how the idea of plea-bargaining has been applied by the Indian judiciary. In order to ensure reasonably quick trials, the system needs to be redesigned in terms of composition, structure, and work culture rather than having trials replaced.
Keywords: Alternative Dispute Redressal Mechanism; Backlog Cases; Mutual Agreement; Negotiated Justice; Plea-Bargaining; Quick Trial.
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