Minimum Sentencing for Offences in India: Law and Policy

In this age of reforms in the administration of criminal justice, in modern penology, the Parliament adopted the deterrent theory by enacting various socio-economic laws prescribing mandatory minimum sentences. These laws are intended not only to curb socio-economic offences but at the same also to minimise the discretionary powers of the judiciary in awarding minimum punishment in cases relating to socio-economic offences. This book contains the age old historical background of socio-economic offences and punishment policy, legislative history, constitutional provisions and vis-a-vis statutory laws. It is an attempt to analyse critically the policy of minimum sentencing in regard to socio-economic and various related laws including case laws on the subject. It also covers the parliamentary debates on the related legislations. The author has endeavoured to suggest in this treatise, the legal and non-legal methods to curb the socio-economic offences. It also examines its conflict with the philosophy of the reformatory policy of probation.