Criminal Justice System needs total revamp: Justice Malimath

Bangalore, July 11 (UNI) The country's Criminal Justice System (CJS) needs to be totally revamped as it has outgrown its utility and become useless, former Chief Justice of Karnataka and Kerala High Court Justice V S Malimath observed today.

Delivering the keynote address at a seminar on ''Criminal Justice System--Need for Changes,'' organised as part of the Golden Jubilee of the Karnataka High Court, he said the people had lost faith in the CJS and the Indian Penal Code as the judiciary, investigating agencies and advocates had failed to ensure satisfactory and speedy disposal of criminal cases, leaving them in a state of 'agony'.

''The CJS we have now is moving at the pace of a bullockcart and not workable in the jet age we are living in. When the present CJS was evolved the society was different...now crime has become sophisticated...a variety of new crimes like terrorism, hijacks, abduction and cyber crime had not existed when the old laws were framed. It is the responsibility of the state to protect the lives of the people as assured under Article 21 of the Constitution.

CJS should be pro people and protect human rights,'' he added.

Expressing dismay over slowing down of the judiciary which had led to accumulation of unresolved cases, he said serious crimes like murder, dacoity and rape were on the rise and the guilty were going unpunished.

''The unending criminal cases in the Indian courts had led to handling of criminal cases a profitable business for many. CJS was evolved to bring down the crime rate, but delay in disposal of cases had made it a money making avenue and we must bring an end to this, he added.

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