According to a report by the Union Ministry of Law and Justice, nearly two decades after plea bargaining was introduced as one of the means to reduce the overwhelming pendency of cases in the courts, its application in India remains minimal.
- The report titled ‘Access to Justice through Plea Bargaining as an Alternative Model to Traditional Criminal Trial in India: A Case Study of Select Indian States’ was prepared by the Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University (GGSIPU), Delhi.
- A “plea bargain” is a practice whereby the accused forgoes his right to plead not guilty and demand a full trial and instead uses a right to bargain for a benefit.
- Actually, it refers to a person charged with a criminal offence negotiating with the prosecution for a lesser punishment than what is provided in law by pleading guilty to a less serious offence.
- It primarily involves pre-trial negotiations between the accused and the prosecutor. It may involve bargaining on the charge or in the quantum of sentence.
- Plea bargaining was incorporated into the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) in 2005 with the expectation that it would streamline the judicial process by allowing accused persons to admit guilt in exchange for leniency in sentencing.
- The procedure, outlined in Chapter XXIA of the CrPC, applies only to offences punishable by up to seven years of imprisonment, with further restrictions excluding cases involving crimes against women, children, or socio-economic offences.
