IN what comes as a breath of fresh air, Parliament has passed a new edition of the Public Trust Bill 2026 or the Jan Vishwas Bill – which, in sum, rules out jail terms for nearly 800 crimes of a minor nature, encompassing 79 es are now pending before courts – a shameful scenario,laws. Emphasis is mainly on crimes relating to land-grabbing, law violations by motorists etc. It has been stated that as high as five crore petty cas which is made more shameful by the fact that these cases drag on for years. The government keeps enacting laws and occasionally puts itself in action mode to correct wrongs. Over a period of time, things have been adrift, with the parliament and state legislatures acting as factories to produce, reproduce and impose laws on citizens – under a notion that this is the principal job of elected people’s representatives.
Other than for the occasional corrections, successive governments blissfully ignored the sufferings these cause for the people. A scenario was created wherein a casual error on the part of an individual could invite a police case, leading to arrest, interrogation and registration of the case before court. In courts, lawyers wait like eagles to extract money from clients. Cases dragging on interminably is also to the advantage of the legal sharks. With a surfeit of new laws arriving by the hour, the result is also that the entire system is getting more corrupted. Courts and judges are getting confused. The Jan Biswas Bill, which could turn into law with a Presidential accent, is laudable. It seeks to avoid filing of criminal cases vis-à-vis crimes pertaining to 317 sections, and instead imposes a fine on condition that a repeat offence could invite harsher punishment. A provision for fine has been removed from 158 kinds of crimes; jail avoided in crimes relating to 29 sections; prescribing only fine and no jail for 113 sections; both jail and fine avoided in relation to 57 sections; no action other than a warning for crimes relating to 63 sections.
Jail terms have been reduced for crimes under 17 sections. The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, introduced by the Modi government from 2024, had aimed to modernise the nation’s criminal justice system. This was half-baked. Among other things, it introduced community service as a form of punishment for some petty crimes. A total overhaul of the decadent, corruption-ridden system is still a long haul. The government lacks the nerve to act or eliminate vested interests swarming the systems. As long as politicians and bureaucrats can get away with their act, the rest – it is assumed – is fine. Unless the government demonstrates a more comprehensive reformist mindset, things would more or less remain the same. Vested interests have a way of catching up with every situation and turning it into their advantage. Weak-kneed governments and administrators do a disservice to the nation by their acts of omissions and commissions. The Jan Vishwas Bill, delayed as it is for long, is but a small step in the right direction.
