Indian Law is largely derived from the British Common Law. Indian law was first introduced by the British when they ruled India. Various acts and ordinances first introduced by the British are still into effect till today.

During the drafting of the Indian Constitution, laws from Ireland, USA, Britain and France were all synthesised to get a refined set of Indian laws as it currently stands. Indian laws also adhere to the United Nations guidelines on Human Rights and the environment. Certain international trade laws such as those of intellectual rights etc. are also enforced in India.

Indian Civil Law is complex with each religion having its own specific laws which they adhere to. In most states, registering of marriages and divorces is not compulsory. There are separate laws governing Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and other religions. The exception to this rule is in the state of Goa, where a Portuguese Uniform Civil Code is in place, in which all religions have a common law regarding marriages, divorces and adoption.

Jury trials were abolished by the government in 1960 on the grounds they would be susceptible to media and public influence. This decision was based on a 8:1 acquittal of Kawas Nanavati

Each state drafts it own laws, however all the states have more or less the same laws. Laws directed by the Central government and the Supreme Court of India are binding on all citizens of each state. Each state has its own labour laws and taxation rates.

Capital Punishment is present in India and is invoked only in the ‘rarest of rare’ cases. The last execution was conducted in 2004, when Dhanonjoy Chatterjee was hanged for the rape and murder of a 14-year old girl. India’s most famous jail is the Tihar Jail.

Dual nationality is prohibited under Indian nationality law. The courts of India have taken the view that no citizen shall carry the political burden of dual citizenship with its inevitable consequence of divided loyalties. The Indian Parliament passed on 7 January 2004 a law creating a new form of very limited dual nationality called Overseas citizenship of India. Overseas citizens of India will not enjoy any form of political rights or participation in the government of India. There are no plans to issue to Overseas citizens any form of Indian passport.

After independence Indian laws have adapted to the changing world. The most recent being the Information Technology Act (2000), which recognises the validity of emails, digital ID’s and laws outlawing hacking, cracking and other malicious online works.

Law Implementation:



Record is sad but improving

While Indian laws are well-intentioned, there is a general perception among the population that one can get away with any crime due to various flaws in the execution. Common grievances regarding law implementation include corruption (bribes are given to officials, police and even the judiciary), inadequate protection to witnesses (witnesses are threatened or bribed into silence), inept prosecution, etc. Prominent cases involving blatant miscarriage of justice include

• The Jessica Lal murder, where a politician's son was acquitted after shooting a model in the presence of dozens of witnesses,
• The BMW case in which an inebriated Sanjeev Nanda, son of a wealthy businessman and grandson of an admiral, drove into a police barrier at recklessly high speeds, killing three policemen and several bystanders on a public road. A number of witnesses initially attested to seeing the incident, and the group was caught red-handed cleaning blood from the car. However, all were eventually acquitted after witnesses turned hostile, saying e.g. that it was probably a truck and not a BMW that they had seen.
• In Priyadarshini Mattoo's rape and murder, a top police officer's son was acquitted owing to what the judgment said were investigation and prosecution failures, including deliberately botched up DNA tests.
• Witnesses turned hostile in the Best Bakery Case during the anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat, leading to a collapse in the prosecution case.
• After nearly a dozen commissions investigating the Anti-Sikh Riots of 1984, in which prominent political leaders have been indicted and a number of police officers identified as culpable, not even a policeman has been even suspended.

More than Indian Law, it is perhaps the strong tradition of a free press in India that serves its citizen's better. It is this force that is bringing the Jessica Lal case to a retrial. Also,occasionally, justice does find its way, as in the tandoor murder case, where political leader Sushil Sharma appears to have shothis wife, chopped up her body and burnt the remains in a restaurant's tandoor oven. He was found guilty and sentenced to death on November 7, 2003.

See also

• Supreme Court of India
• Law enforcement in India
• Central Bureau of Investigation
• Equal under the Law? The Jessica Lal and Priyadarshini Mattoo cases.

References

• on the execution of Dhananjoy Chatterjee.