Criminal Law that ought to be – A Primer
Criminal law plays a critical role towards protecting the lives and interests of its citizens. Nonetheless, it also holds the power to deny individuals their most cherished rights – life and liberty. In this primer, we attempt to understand the Indian State’s view on crime, punishment, and its expectations from criminal laws. We examine the most fundamental questions on the purpose of criminal law, the theoretical basis of India’s legislative and judicial policy on criminalisation and the value in criminalisation across different kinds of laws
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About the Authors
Neha Singhal was a Senior Resident Fellow and led work in the area of Criminal Justice, and is researching on the criminalisation of drug use in India. She has authored the report titled “From Addict to Convict - The Working of The NDPS Act in Punjab”. She was the Deputy Director of the Death Penalty Research Project at NLU, Delhi. She has also taught courses on legal history and humanitarian law at NLU, Delhi, She graduated from the National Law School of India University in 2008 and completed her Masters in Criminal Justice from the University of Kent, Canterbury in 2010.
Naveed is Senior Resident Fellow and Lead with the Criminal Justice Team at Vidhi. His work focuses on decriminalisation of India's legislative landscape and reimagining India's approach towards Crime & Punishment. Previously, Naveed has worked on criminalisation of drug use and evaluated the government response to increasing violence against women. Naveed holds an undergraduate degree in law from National University of Law, Punjab and a Masters in Law from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai.
