Wrongful Convictions and Acquittals Without Compensation is a searing indictment of the Indian criminal justice system’s most tragic failure—punishing the innocent while allowing the guilty to walk free. Through painstaking legal research, real-life case studies, and analysis of statutory gaps, this book exposes how systemic flaws, police misconduct, prosecutorial bias, and judicial apathy lead to devastating miscarriages of justice.
From the wrongful incarceration of tribal man Machal Lalung for 54 years, to the exoneration of Vishnu Tiwari after two decades behind bars, the book documents chilling examples of lives destroyed by arbitrary arrests, delayed trials, and false charges. Despite acquittal, most victims receive no compensation, apology, or rehabilitation—left instead to rebuild shattered lives in silence.
The book offers a compelling call for statutory compensation laws, judicial accountability, and police reform, drawing on recommendations from the Law Commission Report No. 277, global human rights conventions, and NCRB data. It critiques the absence of safeguards for undertrials, the politicisation of law enforcement, gender-biased misuse of legal provisions, and the marginalisation of SC/ST, Muslim, and poor citizens in prisons.
With dedicated chapters on media trials, civil society activism, legal aid, and templates for compensation petitions, this is both a legal handbook and a manifesto for reform. It aims to galvanise lawyers, judges, legislators, journalists, and citizens toward a justice system rooted not in retribution, but in truth, accountability, and human dignity.