India's criminal justice system, long governed by colonial-era legislation designed primarily to serve British imperial interests, has undergone a significant jurisprudential transformation with the enactment of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023, and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA), 2023. This paper critically examines the ideological and structural shift from a predominantly punitive criminal justice paradigm to one increasingly oriented toward rehabilitation, restorative justice, and victim-centrism. The paper traces the jurisprudential foundations of this transition, analysing the recommendations of key reform committees, the Vohra Committee (1993), the Malimath Committee (2003), and the Madhav Menon Committee (2007), alongside pivotal Supreme Court directions in cases such as Prakash Singh v. Union of India and Hussainara Khatoon v. State of Bihar. It evaluates the reformative provisions introduced under the new laws, including diversion programmes for first-time offenders, psychological counselling, victim compensation schemes, the integration of digital evidence, and mandatory witness protection obligations on state governments under Section 398 of the BNSS. A comparative analysis situates India's reforms within a global context, drawing lessons from the Scandinavian model, Canada, and Australia. The paper further identifies critical challenges, including implementation gaps, insufficient training of justice professionals, potential misuse of police powers, and inconsistencies between reformative intent and ground realities. It concludes that while the legislative shift is commendable, its success depends on harmonised laws, robust capacity-building, and sustained institutional commitment to balancing deterrence with rehabilitation.
Anand et al. (Thu,) studied this question.