Indian Penal Code: Static Structure Of Fine

Supreme Court of India, a bench led by Justice Madan B. Lokur in a judgment on a suomoto PIL,, on 3rd Oct 2016 observed that prisons are crammed with inmates by over and a half times the permissible limit. Whereas, in Dulla v. State, Allahabad High Court found the imposition of a fine to be a better alternative than imprisonment having regard to the objects of punishment. In imposing a fine it is necessary to have as much regard to the pecuniary circumstances of the accused persons to the character and magnitude of the offence, and where a substantial term of imprisonment is inflicted, an excessive fine should not accompany it except in exceptional cases…… It is no doubt true that the offence of black marketing is very generally prevalent in this country at the present moment and when it is brought home against a person, no leniency in the matter of sentence should be shown and a certain amount of severity may be very appropriate and even called for”. Epilogue: The author has submitted a detailed memorandum highlighting the need to amend the fine amounts in IPC to the Ministry of Law and Justice way back in May 2011, for which they replied that the said request was handed over to the Home Ministry as the “subject matter relating to Indian Penal Code and enhancement of fine thereunder falls under the administrative ambit of the Ministry of Home Affairs”. Later, the Ministry of Home Affairs replied positively and informed that, “Amendment to law is a continuous process and is done on the basis of recommendation of the Law Commission of India, various Committees, Commissions, Court Orders and other stake holders and also ensured that “need for IPC fine amount enhancement has been noted and will be given due consideration when the next batch of amendment to IPC is taken up”.Meanwhile the same was brought to the notice of Law Commission also.