International companies doing business in India have seen increased success having complaints against counterfeiters settled through plea bargaining, explain Binny Kalra and Saif Khan.
The disposal of criminal trials in the Courts takes considerable time, and in many cases trials do not commence for as long a period as three to five years after the accused was remitted to judicial custody and granted bail. Some accused in criminal offences are unable to secure bail for one reason or another and have to languish in jail as under-trial prisoners for years on end. There has been a growing concern about this.
Therefore, plea bargaining was seen as an increasingly indispensable alternative to deal with the huge arrears of criminal cases and to reduce the delay in the disposal of criminal case trials and appeals as also to alleviate the suffering of under-trial prisoners.
This article was published in Asia IP August 2010.
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