Why Special and Local Laws (SLLs) Also Need to be Reformed?

Table of Contents☰

What’s in Today’s Article?

Why in News?
About SLLs (Meaning, Significance, Need for Reforms, etc.)

About Special and Local Laws (SLLs)

Cognizable crimes are categorized either under the ‘Indian Penal Code (IPC)’ or under the ‘Special and Local Laws (SLL)’.
The SLL identify criminal activities that the state government frames for specific issues.
Special Laws:
- A “special law” is a law applicable to a particular subject. Special laws are those that cover specific issues.
- Examples of these laws include the Excise, Opium, Cattle Trespass, Gambling, and Railway Acts.
Local Laws:
- A “local law” is a law applicable only to a particular part of India.
- Laws applicable to a particular locality only are termed local laws, e.g., Port Trust Act.

Significance of SLLs

SLLs have immense quantitative and qualitative relevance in the Indian criminal justice system.
To illustrate, nearly 39.9% of all cognisable offences registered in 2021 were under SLLs.
As per the Crime in India Statistics of 2021, of the total of nearly 61 lakh cognisable offences registered, 24.3 lakh offences were registered under SLLs alone.
On the qualitative side, SLLs have given rise to several fundamental and pertinent debates, discourses and discussions regarding the limits on the state’s power of criminalisation especially in the context of violation of individual rights and liberties.

Need for Reforming SLLs

Diverse Substantive Issues:
- SLLs such as the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (UAPA) and the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, 1999 (MCOCA) suffer from glaringly deficient, ambiguous and vague definitions of offences and terms, raising concerns about the application.
- The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 is increasingly being criticised for its applicability to consensual sexual activities between minors.
- Concerns have also been raised regarding criminalisation of such conduct through SLLs which would otherwise fall squarely within the domain of civil wrongs or at best, regulatory wrongs.
- For example, the Supreme Court in the case of P. Mohanraj versus M/s Shah Brothers Ispat Ltd. (2021) referred to Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 as a ‘civil sheep’ in a ‘criminal wolf’s’ clothing.
Procedural Challenges:
- Universally accepted due process values are increasingly being diluted through SLLs.
- Increased powers of search and seizure under Section 43A of the UAPA and the admissibility of confessions recorded by police officers under Section 18 of the MCOCA are prime examples of the same.
- The stringent provisions provided for under Section 43(D)(5) of the UAPA, Section 37 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 and Section 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) 2002 make the grant of bail a near impossibility.

Conclusion

All SLLs which criminalise/seek to criminalise a conduct should find a place as separate chapters within the larger structure of the penal code.
All SLLs which create a separate procedure for reporting of offences, arrest, investigation, prosecution, trial, evidence and bail must be included either as separate procedures within the CrPC or as exceptions to the general provisions provided therein.
Non-inclusion of the substantive and procedural aspects of the SLLs in the ongoing reform project is a serious limitation.
It is imperative therefore that a second generation of reforms be brought in, in order to address the lacunae.

Q1) When was Indian Penal Code established in India?

It was enacted on 6 October 1860. It contains 511 section which derives all the criminal offense in details. It is an official criminal code of the Republic of India.

Q2) What is the Special Marriage Act, 1954?

The Special Marriage Act, 1954 is an Act of the Parliament of India with provision for civil marriage for people of India and all Indian nationals in foreign countries, irrelevant of the religion or faith followed by either party.

Source: Why Special and Local Laws also need to be reformed