{"id":87381,"date":"2026-10-26T18:19:33","date_gmt":"2026-10-26T12:49:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=87381"},"modified":"2026-10-26T18:19:58","modified_gmt":"2026-10-26T12:49:58","slug":"sentencing-council-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/26-10-2026\/sentencing-council-india","title":{"rendered":"Why Does India Need a Sentencing Council?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS2\/Polity and Governance<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In India, two people convicted of the same crime can be awarded different sentences, thus raising the <strong>need for uniform principles in sentencing.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Sentencing<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Sentencing <\/strong>is the process where the<strong> State translates prescriptive ranges,<\/strong> for instance, \u2018up to ten years\u2019 imprisonment, into a specific prison term, fines, probation or community sanctions for the convict(s).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In India, this decision is left almost entirely to an <strong>individual judge\u2019s or Bench\u2019s discretion.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Statutes set out the<strong> maximum, and sometimes the minimum sentences.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>There is no checklist<\/strong> of what should count as a serious aggravating factor, what counts as genuine mitigation, or how prior conduct and remorse should be weighed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Need for a National Sentencing Policy<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Disparity in punishments:<\/strong> A differential judicial assessment could lead to different sentences for the similar offences committed by the individuals.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Constitutional concerns: <\/strong>Articles 14 and 21 guarantees equality before the law and fair, just and reasonable procedures to every individual. Arbitrary sentencing undermines these constitutional guarantees.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Limited guidance for judges:<\/strong> There is a lack of a comprehensive national framework to specify the impact of factors such as seriousness of the offence, previous criminal conduct, remorse and prospects of rehabilitation on the punishment.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Neglect of alternatives:<\/strong> In the absence of clear guidelines, probation or other\u00a0 legally permissible alternatives to imprisonment might not be considered enough in the judicial system.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Supreme Court&#8217;s Observations<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>In Soman v. State of Kerala (2012),<\/strong> the Supreme Court recognised the competing principles involved in sentencing and highlighted weaknesses in sentencing practices within the criminal justice system.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>In Sunita Devi v. State of Bihar (2024),<\/strong> the Supreme Court observed that sentencing should not be a mere lottery and directed the Centre to examine the feasibility of a comprehensive national sentencing policy, potentially through a Sentencing Commission.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The English Model: Sentencing Council<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>England and Wales had established t<strong>he Sentencing Council<\/strong> under the Coroners and Justice Act, 2009, under which:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Courts assess the offender&#8217;s culpability and the harm caused by the offence.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Guidelines prescribe a starting sentence and a category range for different combinations of culpability and harm.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Courts adjust the sentence for aggravating and mitigating factors, guilty pleas and multiple offences.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Guidelines structure judicial decision-making without requiring identical punishments in every superficially similar case.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Way Ahead<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Develop offence-specific guidelines: <\/strong>There is a need to establish a structured framework for evaluating culpability, harm, aggravating factors and mitigating circumstances.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Create a national sentencing database: <\/strong>The National Judicial Data Grid&#8217;s infrastructure can be analysed to collect sentencing data and identify disparities across courts.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Policy based on evidence: <\/strong>Study existing sentencing practices, prison capacity, rehabilitation outcomes, deterrence and public safety before finalising the framework.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Conclusion<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A national sentencing policy can help ensure that similar cases are treated as per the <strong>uniform principles, at the same time it allows justified differences in individual cases.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The objective should be to make<strong> sentencing fair, transparent, proportionate and accountable,<\/strong> so that the punishment does not depend merely on the discretion of the judge hearing the case.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: IE<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><strong> Context <\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> In India, two people convicted of the same crime can be awarded different sentences, thus raising the need for uniform principles in sentencing. <\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><strong> Sentencing <\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> Sentencing is the process where the State translates prescriptive ranges, for instance, \u2018up to ten years\u2019 imprisonment, into a specific prison term, fines, probation or community sanctions for the convict(s). <\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> In India, this decision is left almost entirely to an individual judge\u2019s or Bench\u2019s discretion. <\/li>\n<p><a href=\" https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/26-10-2026\/sentencing-council-india \" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-87381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87381"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87381\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87383,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87381\/revisions\/87383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}