The Committee on Reforms of the Criminal Justice System, headed by Justice V.S. Malimath, submitted its report to the Ministry of Home Affairs in April 2003. Amnesty International is concerned that the Committee’s report represents a very limited approach to the issue of reform of the criminal justice system in the country. The organisation’s concerns focus on two particular aspects of the report. Firstly, the Committee has failed to take into account international human rights standards which establish a framework for human rights protection within criminal justice systems throughout the world. Secondly, it has failed to address a vast range of important concerns about the current functioning of the criminal justice system. The report fails to address adequately or in some cases at all, issues including: the problems of access to the criminal justice system for marginalized communities; lack of access to legal aid; endemic corruption, discrimination and bias within institutions of the criminal justice system; non-implementation of safeguards against police abuses; impunity for human rights violations committed by state actors, among others.
