Nujs Essay on criminal law

“ All crime is a kind of disease and should be treated as such”

- Mahatma Gandhi

Crime, is said to be as old as mankind, and even older than civilization or society, as , even in earlier
times, the caves men were known to fight one another over the share of their kill. But, the society
never did stop in its’ efforts to prevent it, if not eradicate it completely. In the opinion of some of
the renowned jurists and sociologists, a minimal amount of crime is necessary and ever present in
the society- as it serves to produce a cleansing or purging effect on the society- but that is a different
debate altogether. As an anecdote to crime , society has always relied on punishment- with the social
carrier of legislative statutes, to serve its end to eradicate crime- through various means.

The changing trends of society has brought about different perceptions about the nature and strata
of crimes- and at present times,undoubtedly, the most condemned form of crime can be termed as
sexual offences.

The word crime has been derived from the Latin word ‘cernere’ which means ‘to judge’. As the
name itself suggests, an act or omission can be termed as crime solely based on the judgment of a
person or group of persons. Now, this may lead to subjective interpretation, so we may have to look
back at Aristotle and consider what he meant when he used the term “ judgment by many”- as he
categorized them into three different categories- the judgment of all, the judgment of the majority,
or the judgment of the most noble or knowledgeable. In a democracy , all are equal, and barely a
decision is made by consensus, so the only possible way left out is the second stage- judgment by
majority.

In a democracy, people are supreme, but they have their will exercised through a body of men and
women, who are said to perform the most reasonable work in the most reasonable manner- the
Parliament. It is of no wonder, that in a parliamentary democracy, the law making process is nothing
more than the mirror reflecting people’s will and choices.

So, recently, this fact was again well demonstrated with the promulgation of Criminal Law
(ordinance) , 2018 , which later went on to become the the Criminal Law ( Amendment) Act, 2018.