Law panel suggests monetary, non-monetary relief to wrongful prosecution victims

New Delhi : The Law Commission on Thursday submitted its report to the government over the issue of "wrongful prosecution" of innocents, recommending enactment of a specific legal provision for redressing cases in terms of monetary and non-monetary compensation.

"The report gives an overview of the remedies available under the existing laws and discusses their inadequacies," an official release said.

"The Commission, accordingly, recommends enactment of a specific legal provision for redressing cases of wrongful prosecution to provide relief to the victims of wrongful prosecution in terms of monetary and non-monetary compensation such as counselling, mental health services, vocational or employment skills development etc. within a statutory framework," it said.

According to the Law Commission, the report looks at the issue from the context of Indian Criminal Justice system and recommends ‘wrongful prosecution' to be the standards of miscarriage of justice, as against ‘wrongful conviction' and ‘wrongful incarceration'.