AFPIn India, you may encounter penalty accusations of connecting an animal on the street, flying a kite in a way that causes anxiety., Missing an order to visit school or handing a bottle to feed a mother who cannot breastfeed.
Of the 882 Federal Laws on Books 370, they contain criminal provisions – together the criminalizing 7 305 actions and omissions. They range from the absurd to the serious one: if you do not inform monthly before leaving your work or not walking your dog enough, to offend as an illegal possession of a weapon, murder and sexual assault.
The Delhi -based Vidhi Delhi Legal Policy Center calls it a “India over -care crisis.”
In a new report, the status of the system: understanding the scale of crime and punishment in India, the brain reservoir created the first comprehensive database of crime in the country, mapping the degree of criminalization in 370 federal laws.
The report marks India's habit of reaching criminal law in order to resolve almost everything – even the secular one. He notes that many laws criminalize “routine, daily actions”.
For example, you may be charged for connecting your goat to a public street, fixing a passing crane without a license, or not to name the owner of a building when asked.
Then there are really vague crimes – as a parent, an ignoring order to visit school, applying for a driver's license when it is prohibited or littered at a zoo. In principle, there is a criminal penalty waiting around every corner of everyday life.
Ghetto imagesAllow your pigs to wander in a field or road and you can be fined with 10 rupees (12 cents). Break an animal or bedding in a zoo? Six months in prison or a fine of 2000 rupees. And if you do not exercise your dog, it can cost you up to 100 rupees and three months in prison.
Promotion Baby milk substitutes Either the feeding of bottles of pregnant women or mothers can lead up to three years in prison or a fine in 5,000 rupees. (This was intended to limit aggressive marketing from Formula Food Company, but the law also applies to people, which makes it controversial.)
The prison is the punishment in India – 73% of the crimes are raised in prison ranging from one day to 20 years.
More than 250 crimes in 117 laws sanction the delay in submitting documents – everything – from the wealth and ownership tax to gift declarations, is established in the report.
About 124 crimes of 80 laws criminalize a preventive civil servant, often without clearly defining what causes an “obstacle”.
Even the death penalty is not off the table – not only for murder or rebellion, but also for damage to oil or gas pipeline or guard, caught on duty. Overall, the shocking 301 crimes in India can legally cost your life.
Of the 7 305 crimes under central laws, nearly 80% come with fines – from only two rupees to staggering 50m rupees.
To be fair, many of these provisions are rarely used – the Crime Bureau of Crime in India follows about 50 laws, although 370 carry penalties.
“They are not strongly applied, but they create great opportunities to seek rent,” Mehmud Ahmad, co -author of the study at the Vidhi Legal Policy Center, told me.
“There are enough in the books to close almost everyone for some technical non-compliance. It's less for actual use and more about the potential for abuse.”
AFPThis “excessive use of criminal law not only violates the daily life of ordinary citizens, but also creates significant barriers for business operations,” the report said.
Business in India is facing a maze of regulations, but the use of criminal law as a failure to comply with non -compliance is excessive, disproportionate and often counterproductive, experts say.
The report also speaks of some bright inconsistencies in crime and punishment.
Riots – the use of force or violence by an illegal meeting – is punishable by up to two years imprisonment. Meanwhile, false birth or death to official records can lead to three years of imprisonment.
The irony? Violence in a public place receives a lighter sentence than a lie on paper.
Even more conventional: crimes with an extremely different burden carry the same punishment – such as practicing homeopathy without license, jumping red light or forcing someone in labor – all punishable with a one -year sentence.
The pure number of crimes involved in everyday life and business shows how much the state of criminalization bends to impose compliance with compliance, the report said.
“This ultra -religiosity has significant costs not only for citizens and businesses, but also for state machines.”
More than 34 million criminal cases are pending in the courts of India, with 72% remaining for more than a year. The prisons are overcrowded, with a capacity of 131%, while courts and police forces continue to fight chronic staff shortages
Ghetto imagesEven law and order machines are stretched. As of January 1, 2023, India had only 154 police officers per 100,000 people – well below the sanctioned 195 throughout the country, there were 581,000 vacancies against an approved force of 2.72 million.
“Even then, we continue to rely on this overloaded system to combat mild violations, including those that attract nominal fines,” the report said.
It states that criminal law must be limited to acts that threaten basic social values ​​- such as public safety, national security, life, freedom, property and social harmony.
Authorities claim to plan scrap penal penalties in more than 100 legal provisions – at the top of the 180s already accepted in 2023. This is not just legal cleaning; This is a chance to rethink how the law treats people. Less fear, more confidence. A less suspect, more citizen.