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I am compiling commentary around the "reform" process currently underway in India through the Committee for Reforms in Criminal Laws ( https://criminallawreforms.in/ ) based at the National Law University, Delhi. There are serious concerns about the Committee's composition and operation.
Broadly, the Committee is unrepresentative in character and opaque in its functioning. Its questionnaires are poorly designed and the timelines are too narrow for there to be real engagement. There are inadequate arrangements for consultation in local languages. To know more:
1. Letter from members of civil society available here: https://tinyurl.com/y2zkykns
Among other things, highlighting the absurdity of conducting this inquiry in the middle of a pandemic.
2. Letter from women practitioners: https://tinyurl.com/y3nw343c
Among other things, highlighting the absurdity of conducting this inquiry in the middle of a pandemic.
2. Letter from women practitioners: https://tinyurl.com/y3nw343c
3. Letter from advocates, academics, former judges and bureaucrats: https://tinyurl.com/yx8oj96e
4. Blogpost by Abhinav Sekhri: https://tinyurl.com/y6gcnovx
5. Blogpost by Lakshana Ramakrishnan and Arshdeep Singh: https://preview.tinyurl.com/y44pm5so
4. Blogpost by Abhinav Sekhri: https://tinyurl.com/y6gcnovx
5. Blogpost by Lakshana Ramakrishnan and Arshdeep Singh: https://preview.tinyurl.com/y44pm5so
6. Thread by @avani_chokshi, summarising presentations from @anugem, @vinaysreeni and Jawahar Raja: https://tinyurl.com/yxw6ms6z
7. Ritika Jain's report for Article 14, including a discussion on the inadequacy of the Committee's response to criticisms. She compares it with the Malimath Committee, which for all its flaws, submitted its report after 2.5 years and had a clear mandate: https://tinyurl.com/y233mfzh
9. Letter from members of the LGBTQIA+ community/ community-based organisations: https://tinyurl.com/y35h5xc6
(demanding suspension/reconstitution of the Committee, expansion of its consultation process, publication of all submissions received by it)
Thanks to @avani_chokshi for RTing
(demanding suspension/reconstitution of the Committee, expansion of its consultation process, publication of all submissions received by it)
Thanks to @avani_chokshi for RTing
10. @internetfreedom has criticised the Committee and explained which digital rights are implicated in this reform process: https://tinyurl.com/y5p6ms3n
(Note that many other practitioners and academics are boycotting the Committee for its exclusionary set-up.)
(Note that many other practitioners and academics are boycotting the Committee for its exclusionary set-up.)
11. Nandita Rao writing for the @IndianExpress: https://tinyurl.com/ybtl5lm3
12. Shahina KK writing for The Federal: https://tinyurl.com/y48mdpbt
(also served as a good reminder that the Committee's original composition was changed without explanation or notice)
12. Shahina KK writing for The Federal: https://tinyurl.com/y48mdpbt
(also served as a good reminder that the Committee's original composition was changed without explanation or notice)
13. Second letter from judges, bureaucrats, academics and former lawyers, once their initial letter received an inadequate response: https://tinyurl.com/y5o24too
[There is also wide press coverage of all the letters on this thread. See https://tinyurl.com/y53lrns5 , https://tinyurl.com/y84n8xe7 , https://tinyurl.com/y9qvgog6 , https://tinyurl.com/yygtnrmq , https://tinyurl.com/y4fmpstl ]
14. Adding this piece in Kannada, which a friend shared: https://tinyurl.com/y4jkafpj
14. Adding this piece in Kannada, which a friend shared: https://tinyurl.com/y4jkafpj
15. Letter from National Law University (Delhi) alumni expressing disappointment in the University for organising rushed and exclusionary consultations: https://tinyurl.com/y5rlm2t6
16. Representation from students at @SBAnlsiu @NLSIUofficial @LSC_NLSIU asking that this process 'should not go forward unless there is adequate representation in the Committee, and until the pandemic has substantially subsided.' https://tinyurl.com/y2curgqv
17. Pamphlet of the Citizens Against the Criminal Law Reform Committee: https://tinyurl.com/y4253rof
Text in English: https://tinyurl.com/y433u7zf
आपराधिक कानून के सुधार के नाम पर गैर पारदर्शी कमिटी के विरोध में आप यह परचा पढ़ें: https://tinyurl.com/yxqdwma9
cc @avani_chokshi
Text in English: https://tinyurl.com/y433u7zf
आपराधिक कानून के सुधार के नाम पर गैर पारदर्शी कमिटी के विरोध में आप यह परचा पढ़ें: https://tinyurl.com/yxqdwma9
cc @avani_chokshi
[Translated copies of the pamphlet by the Citizens Against the Criminal Law Reform Committee in various local languages are being added here: https://tinyurl.com/yyc8ynzh ]
18. Letter from the National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM), demanding that the Committee for Reforms in Criminal Laws be disbanded immediately: https://tinyurl.com/yyosnlmp
19. Rishika Sahgal ( @OxHRH @OxfordLawFac) and I ( @lawsheffield) write for @the_hindu, arguing that the Committee for Reforms in Criminal Laws cannot hope to decolonise the criminal justice system as long as its methodology remains colonial and exclusionary https://tinyurl.com/yywlk8p5
20. Pratiksha Baxi on the 'muscularity' of this law reform process being forcefully carried out during the pandemic. She argues that this moment 'marks a break with earlier models of academic freedom and hospitality that marked universities like NLUD': https://tinyurl.com/y56yhkla
21. Letter from >100 academics (and counting) across the world, urging the Committee for Reforms in Criminal Laws to disband: https://tinyurl.com/y4gqebva
Provides rich historical+international comparisons, highlighting how the Committee's methods are flawed @barandbench @LiveLawIndia
Provides rich historical+international comparisons, highlighting how the Committee's methods are flawed @barandbench @LiveLawIndia
[ @LiveLawIndia has covered this letter from academics including @tarunkhaitan @pkotiswaran @itihaasnaama @SurabhiRanganat @sumi_madhok @SnehaK20 @thariel @anujbhuwania & others:Over 100 Academics Seek Immediate Suspension of Criminal Law Reforms Committee https://tinyurl.com/y4gbu2tk ]
[content note - distressing image of injuries/blood]
22. A friend has shared this piece in Malayalam, which recounts the main criticisms against the operation of the Committee: https://tinyurl.com/y5fu5ndl
22. A friend has shared this piece in Malayalam, which recounts the main criticisms against the operation of the Committee: https://tinyurl.com/y5fu5ndl
23. This link incl a detailed primer on the criminal reform process with translations in 9 languages, and more coming: https://tinyurl.com/y5uh8dx7
Email me for a copy in case you want to disseminate. (Still working with others to develop a website with this and other resources!)
Email me for a copy in case you want to disseminate. (Still working with others to develop a website with this and other resources!)
24. Great feature by @asurendranath and Maulshree Pathak for @frontlinepbs: https://tinyurl.com/y6x2y4ob
They argue: "The project of criminal law reforms is vast, complex and demanding. The attempt to hasten and simplify it is fraught with dangers that have long-lasting consequences."
They argue: "The project of criminal law reforms is vast, complex and demanding. The attempt to hasten and simplify it is fraught with dangers that have long-lasting consequences."
25. In @frontline_india, senior advocate Siddhartha Dave argues we should scrap the Crim Law Committee: https://tinyurl.com/yyu6buke
(But, ouch! 'I don’t think these academics should be in this committee or dominating the committee as they don’t have any understanding of criminal law'
(But, ouch! 'I don’t think these academics should be in this committee or dominating the committee as they don’t have any understanding of criminal law'
26. Venkitesh Ramakrishnan for @frontline_india tracing the longer history of what Hindutva groups have prioritised when it comes to law reform & why the absence of minorities in the Committee for Reforms in Crim Laws is esp jarring against this background https://tinyurl.com/y3c52xus
27. Kirti Singh for @frontline_india: https://tinyurl.com/yyc2y43h
'...A committee set up by a government that has carried out many anti-people reforms and which is not transparent about why it has chosen to look at criminal laws at this crisis-ridden moment cannot be trusted...'
'...A committee set up by a government that has carried out many anti-people reforms and which is not transparent about why it has chosen to look at criminal laws at this crisis-ridden moment cannot be trusted...'
28. TK Rajalakshmi interviewing Dushyant Dave for @frontline_india: https://tinyurl.com/y4ynw5jk
Dave raises concerns about the Committee's composition. He laments the criminalisation of dissent & suggests that criminal reforms must provide robust structures of police accountability.
Dave raises concerns about the Committee's composition. He laments the criminalisation of dissent & suggests that criminal reforms must provide robust structures of police accountability.
29. Nandita Rao for @DeccanHerald, analysing why the specific questions being posed by the NLUD Criminal Law Committee suggest that this reform effort will lead to an over-expansive criminal law. On this basis, she argues that the exercise must be halted: https://tinyurl.com/y2ze4uy3
