Integration of Community Service as a Method of Sentencing in the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita: A Path to Restorative Justice
Keywords:
Community Service, Reformative, Punishment, IndigenousAbstract
The concept of community service as a mode of punishment or legal sanction was introduced in the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita in 2023 (BNS). Though such a form of punishment is not new to the world, as various countries already have it in their criminal law, for India, it is a new addition to its existing five conventional forms of punishment. However, the essence behind such a form of punishment can be traced to the ancient concept of prayaschita. The shift from a retributive approach to a reformative approach is remarkable through this new legislation. This article discusses the concept of community service as punishment at length. It starts by hinting at various aspects of community service, which are substantiated in the subsequent chapter. This article elaborately discusses the theoretical framework of community service punishment to provide a better view. It further delves deep into parallel Indigenous concepts and modern applications. With a detailed analysis of the historical evolution of punishment in India, focusing on community service, it tries to explain its significance.
Downloads
References
1. Santa Singh v. State of Punjab, AIR 1976 SC 2386.
2. The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (Act 45 of 2023).
3. Government of India, “Letter regarding Best Prison Practice” (Ministry of Home Affairs, 2010).
4. The Indian Penal Code, 1860 (Act 45 of 1860).
5. Lisa Monchalin, The Colonial Problem: An Indigenous Perspective on Crime and Injustice in Canada (University of Toronto Press, Canada, 2016).
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
By submitting a manuscript, authors agree that, upon acceptance and publication, the article will be published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.
Under this license, authors retain copyright of their work while granting the journal the right to publish and identify itself as the original publisher. The CC BY 4.0 license permits anyone to copy, distribute, display, adapt, translate, remix, and build upon the published work for any purpose, including commercial use, provided appropriate credit is given to the original author(s), a link to the license is provided, and any changes made are indicated.
Authors are responsible for obtaining permission to use any third-party material included in their manuscript that is not covered by the CC BY 4.0 license.
