Baivab Chakraborty, LLM (CCL), Christ University, Bangalore, Karnataka
ABSTRACT
The pendency of cases, which accounts for approximately three crore cases, is one of the most heinous problems confronting the Indian judiciary. To address the backlog of cases, the legislature devised a revolutionary tool called plea bargaining. Plea bargaining has been a recent addition to criminal law, having been enacted as recently as 2006 by the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act of 2005. Around ten years have passed since the idea was first incorporated into Indian criminal law. By considering the relevant laws and court rulings, the paper will attempt to evaluate the concept's viability in India. The article will also look at the American model of plea bargaining, as it was the pioneer in bringing this concept in the first place. The paper will also compare the Indian and the American concepts of plea bargaining trying to get anidea of each of them. The paper will discuss briefly the procedure followed in the American model of plea bargaining, which has contributed to it being an exceptional and successful tool.
