Law Commission's report on wrongful prosecution

The Law Commission submitted its report to the government on the issue of “wrongful prosecution” of innocents and the remedies that can be made available to compensate them.

The Commission’s report gives an overview of the remedies available under the existing laws and discusses their inadequacies.

The Commission has recommended enactment of a specific legal provision for redressal of cases of wrongful prosecution – to provide relief to the victims of wrongful prosecution in terms of monetary and non-monetary compensation (such as counselling, mental health services, vocational / employment skills development etc.) within a statutory framework.


The report enumerates the core principles of the recommended framework- defining ‘wrongful prosecution’ i.e., cases in which claim for compensation can be filed, designation of a Special Court to decide these claims of compensation, nature of proceedings – timeline for deciding the claim, etc., financial and other factors to be considered while determining the compensation, provisions for interim compensation in certain cases, removal of disqualification on account of wrongful prosecution / conviction etc. A draft Bill, articulating the aforesaid, has been annexed with the Report as the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Bill, 2018.