So, like, the NHRC Chairperson, Justice V. Ramasubramanian, made some points about how our society is all about turning civil cases into criminal ones. Not sure why this is a big deal, but it was on Wednesday, April 23, 2025, when he said all these things. He was talking at the launch of this new database that’s all about criminalization and punishment stuff in India. It was released by the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, just so you know.
The report talks about how most laws in India are making everything a crime, even things like shipping, taxes, or financial stuff. According to the report, out of 882 laws, around 370 have criminal bits in them. That’s like 7,305 actions that are now considered crimes. Only about 1,800 of these crimes are under core criminal laws, but the rest are just random things that have nothing to do with crime.
The NHRC dude also mentioned how the legal system is slow, like really slow. For example, in a car accident, lots of drivers just admit they’re guilty to avoid going through the whole process. Since 2022, the government has been trying to remove some of these old criminal laws. They’ve already gotten rid of 402 actions that were considered crimes.
The report goes on about how all these laws are making it hard for people to live and do business. It suggests that the government should rethink how they make laws and punishments. They even want to find other ways to punish people without sending them to jail.
They also found that too many laws were sending people to jail for small things, like not furnishing documents on time. These laws make it hard to know what counts as a crime. Plus, many laws are punishing people for everyday stuff like not following orders or failing to state the name of premises owners.
The report also thinks there are too many crimes that lead to prison time. Like, 73% of crimes can land you in jail for one day to 20 years. And some crimes can even get you the death penalty. They suggest using community service as a punishment more often.
Lastly, the report says that there’s no logic in how punishments are decided. For example, getting married underage can get you 2 years in jail under one law, but just 15 days under another. It’s all a big mess, and it’s not helping anyone.
