PIL in SC seeks guidelines for compensation on wrongful prosecution

A PIL has been filed in the Supreme Court for a direction to the Centre to frame guidelines for compensation to victims of wrongful prosecutions and implement the recommendations of the Law Commission’s report number 277.

Being custodian of the Constitution and protector of the right to life, liberty and dignity, the Supreme Court may use its plenary constitutional power, as an alternative, to frame the guidelines for compensation to victims of wrongful prosecutions, it said.

Petitioner, BJP leader and advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay contended the cause of action for instant PIL that arose on January 28, 2021 when a division bench of Allahabad High Court declared one, Vishnu Tiwari, as innocent, who remained in jail for 20 years after being booked for rape and atrocities under SC/ST Act, due to a land dispute.

The petitioner said the injury caused to the citizens for wrongful prosecution is extremely large as citizens’ right to life, liberty and dignity, guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution, is being brazenly offended.

He pointed out the Law Commission submitted its report number 277 on August 30, 2018, after undertaking a comprehensive examination of issue of relief and rehabilitation to victims of wrongful prosecution and incarceration, on a direction by the Delhi High Court, on November 30, 2017.

The plea claimed there has been a spurt in false cases. "Wrongful prosecution and incarceration of innocent persons with no effective statutory and legal mechanism, is causing “miscarriage of justice” and has created a black-hole in the criminal jurisprudence of our country," it said.

According to Prison Statistics India, 2015 (PSI), there were 4,19,623 prisoners across the country, out of which, 67.2 per cent i.e. 2,82,076 were under trial; substantially higher than the convict population i.e. 1,34,168 (32.0%).

The petitioner said absence of any effective statutory and legal scheme for providing mandatory compensatory scheme to victims of wrongful and malicious prosecutions and incarceration infringes fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 14 and 21 of the Constitution.

"It is need of the hour to have a set of specific guidelines and for the State and its agencies to prevent police and prosecutorial misconduct to check false cases which destroyed lives of innocent," it said.