Punishment for Criminals in India: Crimes on the Rise

The meaning of crime in the Indian Penal Code has been highlighted as the commission of an act prohibited by the law of the land. Criminal law is a branch of public law. Crime means wrongs done by human beings. It authorises the infliction of State punishment.

A person shall be guilty of a crime under the Indian Penal Code if he concurrently has men's rea and actus reus. The punishment given hence to criminals can be studied on the basis of some theories:

Retributive theory: As the name suggests it is based on the idea of revenge or retribution, therefore, put in simpler terms to treat the criminal with the same harshness with which the crime was committed. However, in the morning time, this theory has been subjected to promoting violence vengeance and feelings of hatred
Deterrent theory: The founder of this theory was a man called Bentham. The idea is that if punishment is given to an offender the others will be e deterred from committing a crime. An emphasis is laid on the creation of a sense of fear that should be enough to put a stop to the propagation of crimes
Preventive theory: An emphasis is given to preventing the offender from committing the same crime twice by means of punishment.
Reformative theory: It is the most humane theory as it focuses on reforming the criminal rather than punishing him/her. A sense of realization should be felt by the criminal as regards the gravity of his/her offence.

Some Reasons behind crimes

With an increase in the urban population, an increase in crime rates has also been seen. With this rising difference between the haves and have-nots, it has become almost inevitable to put a stop to crimes in the country, especially in metropolitans like Delhi. When people are not able to access similar resources or when there is an unequal distribution, a feeling of “void” emerges. This is felt by a multitude of those people who were born into poverty and have never been able to live a life of comfort. For example, thousands of Indians sleep on pavements, live in slums etc.

However, it would be incorrect to attribute only this section of society to those who indulge in crimes, our country has witnessed high-profile criminal cases as well. In such cases, the motive is almost always that of jealousy or vengeance, or some sort of business rivalry. Although there was a fall in the crime rates in Delhi due to covid in 2020, there has been a recorded increase this year(Citing data, police said 3,06,389 cases were reported in 2021 as compared to 2,66,070 cases the previous year). From petty thefts like chain snatching to heinous crimes like sexual violence against women, Delhi presents an ugly picture.

One of the primary reasons is undoubtedly poverty. Millions of unemployed Indians seek to access easy money. Hence committing robberies, burglaries etc. another very big reason is the lack of education in our country. Teenagers fall prey to goons and become their accomplices. Many also commit crimes either intoxicated or under the influence of various kinds of drugs. After all, addiction and crime are very closely related. Education alone is enough to bring lives out of distress, and unfavourable conditions and help the individual become capable of securing employment. There have been abundant cases of child kidnapping and forceful begging/robbery. Kids are forced into criminal worlds at the cost of their lives.

Conclusion

Criminals are very much human beings like the rest of us, to treat them as aliens or to think that they are apart from the society we live in, is perhaps a grave mistake. There is a sense of neglect that the privileged section of society displays. They are blind to the atrocities of the have-nots. They tend to forget that there is a population of millions of Indians that sleeps under these huge sky scrappers that they have built.

Money/wealth becomes a problem only when it is displayed like an art piece, it acts as a temptation for those who can barely arrange meals twice a day for themselves and their families. Of course, taking the road of crimes to sustain is not an option but equal stress and acknowledgement are required behind the reasons why these crimes are committed. This will help to lower the crime rates or even eradicate them completely if that is a possibility.

Written by: Vishakha Baisoya