US State Dept Describes The Indian Criminal Justice System

Click on the text in red to go to the State Dept website on India Travel Info

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CRIMINAL PENALTIES:

While in a foreign country, a U.S. citizen is subject to that country’s laws and regulations, which sometimes differ significantly from those in the United States and may not afford the protections available to the individual under U.S. law.  Penalties for breaking the law can be more severe than in the United States for similar offenses.  Persons violating Indian laws, even unknowingly, may be expelled, arrested or imprisoned.  For example, certain comments or gestures towards women, Indian national symbols, or religion that are legal in the United States may be considered a criminal violation in India, subjecting the accused to possible fines or imprisonment. 

* Furthermore, since the police may arrest anyone who is accused of committing a crime (even if the allegation is frivolous in nature), the Indian criminal justice system is often used to escalate personal disagreements into criminal charges.  This practice has been increasingly exploited by dissatisfied business partners, contractors, estranged spouses, or other persons with whom the U.S. citizen has a disagreement, occasionally resulting in the jailing of U.S. citizens pending resolution of their disputes.  At the very least, such circumstances can delay the U.S. citizen’s timely departure from India, and may result in an unintended long-term stay in the country.  Corruption in India, especially at local levels, is a concern, as evidenced by Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index of 3.5, ranking India in 72nd place of the world’s countries.

Penalties for possession, use, or trafficking in illegal drugs in India are severe, and convicted offenders can expect long jail sentences and heavy fines.  Engaging in sexual conduct with children or using or disseminating child pornography in India is a crime, and is prosecutable in the United States.  Please see our information on Criminal Penalties.

*NOTE:

The State Dept is being factually incorrect when it states that:

“Furthermore, since the police may arrest anyone who is accused of committing a crime (even if the allegation is frivolous in nature)”

In fact, arrests in India are governed by the Supreme Court Judgment of Joginder Kumar Vs State Of UP. This judgment clearly states:

“No arrest can be made because it is lawful for the police officer to do so. The existence of the power to arrest is one thing. The justification for the exercise of it is quite another. The police officer must be able to justify the arrest apart from his power to do so. Arrest and detention in police lock-up of a person can cause incalculable harm to the reputation and self-esteem of a person. No arrest can be made in a routine manner on a mere allegation of commission of an offence made against a person. It would be prudent for a police officer in the interest of protection of the constitutional rights of a citizen and perhaps in his own interest that no arrest should be made without a reasonable satisfaction reached after some investigation as to the genuineness and bona fides of a complaint and a reasonable belief both as to the person’s complicity and even so as to the need to effect arrest. Denying a person of his liberty is a serious matter. The recommendations of the Police Commission merely reflect the constitutional concomitants of the fundamental right to personal liberty and freedom. A person is not liable to arrest merely on the suspicion of complicity in an offence. There must be some reasonable justification in the opinion of the officer effecting the arrest that such arrest is necessary and justified.

Corrupt and/or illiterate magistrates in the lower courts often remand people applying for bail to judicial or police custody for days on end. This practice is illegal too as Justice Regupathy of the Chennai HC states in the order below:

• Justice Regupathy, Chennai HC: Mechanical Judicial Remand Is ILLEGAL

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MOIA Minister Vayalar Ravi’s Profile

Got this from TOI.  Here is his profile:

AGE: 72
ASSETS: Rs 0.5cr    (only a $100,000 ?.  Hmmmmmm…..)
EDUCATION: MA, LLB (Ernakulam)

An old Congress hand from Kerala, Ravi was an able Union minister for overseas Indian affairs and minister for parliamentary affairs in the outgoing Cabinet. His hometown of Vayalar has been the vortex of many peasant struggles, and Ravi was founder-president of the Kerala Students Union. A contemporary of A K Antony, the two fought shoulderto-shoulder to build the state’s Youth Congress. In 1971, he was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1971 from Chirayinkil , which after the new electoral boundaries, falls in the Attingal constituency. He was re-elected in 1977 and in 1982 became state home minister, but stepped down four years later over differences with chief minister K Karunakaran. Ravi has also exchanged words, strong words, with the worthies at the Guruvayur temple about purification rituals. His wife Maria Francis, popularly known as Mercy Ravi, is a columnist and former MLA from Kottayam. As minister for overseas Indian affairs he has presided over Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas and is said to be keen on retaining the ministry that allowed him frequent Gulf trips. He has been criticised for reducing the ministry to non-resident Kerealite affairs and accused of sluggishness in amending the emigration act and giving voting rights to NRIs. He has to his credit labour agreements and social security agreements that will benefit overseas workers.

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