In Satender Kumar Antil v. Central Bureau of Investigation (2022), the Supreme Court expressed its unhappiness with the current state of India’s criminal justice system. The court said there was scant regard for the violation of basic human rights. It was categorical that indiscriminate arrests are indicative of a colonial mindset and create the impression of India being a “police state”.
It is not as if the court said something that has not been said before. But the vital message that agencies must be civilised towards both crime suspects and convicts was clear. The court’s words were emphatic and practical. The highlights of the court’s observations were the accent on safeguarding basic human rights, the emphasis on quickening the pace of trials and the suggestion for a new Bail Act, analogous to an existing U.K. legislation.
