Lawyers against Malicious Prosecution (LAMP) is a network of lawyers across India founded from important need to bring about a fundamental change in the critical issues in the criminal investigation, prosecution and trials in India arising from prejudiced investigations, malicious prosecution and unfair trials and thereby protecting the integrity of the judicial process which a common person is subjected to in India when the wheels of criminal law is set in motion against him / her.

In Babloo Chauhan @ Dabloo v. State Government of NCT of Delhi, 247 (2018) DLT 31, the High Court of Delhi, while dealing with an appeal on the issues of fine and awarding of default sentences without reasoning, and suspension of sentence during pendency of appeal, expressed its concerns about wrongful implication of innocent persons who are acquitted but after long years of incarceration, and the lack of a legislative framework to provide relief to those who are wrongfully prosecuted. The Court, vide its order dated 30 November 2017, specifically called for the Law Commission of India („the Commission‟) to undertake a comprehensive examination of issue of „relief and rehabilitation to victims of wrongful prosecution, and incarceration‟ (“the Reference”), noting that:

“There is at present in our country no statutory or legal scheme for compensating those who are wrongfully incarcerated. The instances of those being acquitted by the High Court or the Supreme Court after many years of imprisonment are not infrequent. They are left to their devices without any hope of reintegration into society or rehabilitation since the best years of their life have been spent behind bars, invisible behind the high prison walls. The possibility of invoking civil remedies can by no stretch of imagination be considered efficacious, affordable or timely… …The decisions in Khatri v. State of Bihar (1981) 1 SCC 627; Veena Sethi v. State of Bihar AIR 1983 SC 339; Rudul Sah v. State of Bihar AIR 1983 SC 1086; Bhim Singh v. State of Jammu and Kashmir (1985) 4 SCC 677 and Sant Bir v. State of Bihar AIR 1982 SC 1470, are instances where the Supreme Court has held that compensation can be awarded by constitutional courts for violation of fundamental right under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. These have included instances of compensation being awarded to those wrongly incarcerated as well. But these are episodic and are not easily available to all similarly situated persons. There is an urgent need, therefore, for a legal (preferably legislative) framework for providing relief and rehabilitation to victims of wrongful prosecution and incarceration… Specific to the question of compensating those wrongfully incarcerated, the questions as regards the situations and conditions upon which such relief would be available, in what form and at what stage are also matters requiring deliberation... The Court, accordingly, requests the Law Commission of India to undertake a comprehensive examination of the issue highlighted in paras 11 to 16 of this order and make its recommendation thereon to the Government of India.” (Emphasis Supplied)

Report No. 277 of the Law Commission of India “Wrongful Prosecution (Miscarriage of Justice): Legal Remedies”, August 2018. Click here for Report

In a recent PIL (Public Interest Litigation) filed in the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India filed by Mr. Kapil Mishra through Advocate Ashwani Kumar Dubey sought directions to the Centre to frame guidelines, make a mechanism to take strict action and prosecute the fake complainants and pay adequate compensation to the victims of wrongful prosecutions. Importantly, the plea reads “"The law is being misused and abused by filing fake and malicious complaints and no action is taken against the culprit in the absence of effective statutory/legal scheme for providing mandatory compensatory relief and to prosecute the fake complainants pertaining to the Special Acts viz-a-viz, Schedule Castes and Schedule Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, fake sexual assault cases as well as to provide the monetary benefits to the victims of wrongful malicious prosecutions and incarceration of innocents and the same infringes the fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 14 and 21 of the constitution."

However, the persons who initiate false criminal cases, Investigating Officers (IOs) who create and foist false criminal cases on innocent accused based on false testimony and fabricated evidences and by hiding exculpatory evidence (evidence which brings forth the innocence of the accused), the accomplices (tutored witnesses & fabricators of evidence) to such IOs who facilitate the foisting of such criminal prosecution and the prosecutors who argue such criminal cases despite knowing that they are arguing a falsely fabricated criminal case against innocent get to go scot free while the innocent accused’s lives are destroyed by the criminal actions and processes they are subject to arising out of a totally false, fabricated and foisted criminal case.

LAMP is a network of lawyers across India who are committed to bring justice to such innocent victims and more importantly bring such individuals who files false cases, such IOs who create false testimony, fabricate evidence and hide exculpatory evidence, their accomplices (tutored witnesses & fabricators of evidence) to such IOs who facilitate the foisting of such criminal prosecution and the prosecutors who argue such criminal cases despite knowing that they are arguing a falsely fabricated criminal case against innocent to face both criminal and civil law for their illegal and criminal acts of foisting patently false criminal cases against the innocent.