Law Commission recommends amending CrPC, CPC for quick case disposal

The Law Commission has recommended that the government introduces plea bargain in the judicial system for expedited adjudication of petty criminal cases through negotiated settlements between plaintiffs and defendants.
In plea bargain, persons charged with minor offences must confess willingly to their crimes to courts through affidavits. The plaintiffs and defendants then may reach settlements for reduced punishments for offenders.
Punishments for offenders could be reduced to a half or one-fourth of what is stipulated by law, the commission said in its proposal.
It added that cases settled through plea bargains should not be allowed to be appealed or revised.
The commission on October 5 submitted the proposal to the law ministry along with 64 other recommendations in connection with proposed introduction of an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) system, for speeding up the judicial process by settling cases outside the courts.
According to the recommendations, ADR and plea bargain will require amendments to the hundred-plus years old Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), and Civil Procedure Code (CPC).
There are more than 10 lakh criminal cases, and six lakh civil cases pending with various courts of the country. Most of those cases are in connection with land related disputes, and petty crimes.
Plea bargain is practiced in the US, UK, Canada, India, and Pakistan, which succeeded in speeding up adjudication of criminal cases at minimum costs, and in reducing backlogs of pending cases, the Law Commission noted.
Introduction of plea bargain in the CrPC is necessary, the commission said.
Law Minister Shafique Ahmed told The Daily Star recently that the government is willing to amend relevant laws to make ADR mandatory for minor cases.
The Law Commission suggested that the government introduces a rule for appointing mediators for out of court settlement of both civil and criminal suits.
Joint district judges should be the mediators at district levels until trained or certified mediators can be found, it added.
The commission also suggested rules for providing compensation to parties who are victimised due to filing of false and baseless cases, and due to creation of hurdles in mediations.
It advised the government to make village courts and Municipal Area Boards effective, to adjudicate minor cases at grassroots level.
It emphasised on formulating a national policy to implement ADR within a certain timeline, establishing a national ADR research centre, and publishing the findings of the research.
It recommended training for judges and lawyers at the Judicial Administration Training Institute; and conferences, meetings, seminars and workshops on ADR.
It also suggested that the government uses both the print and electronic media to create mass awareness about the benefits of ADR.