Institute of Legal and Management Studies

While acquitting a death row convict who was wrongly incarcerated for a long time, the Supreme Court on Tuesday (July 15) expressed the need to enact a law for awarding compensation in cases of wrongful incarceration.

However, the Court stated that it is in the Parliament's domain to decide on this aspect.

The bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath, Sanjay Karol and Sandeep Mehta stated that, unlike the United States, India lacks statutes for compensating victims of wrongful incarceration.

“In foreign jurisdictions such as the United States of America, acquittal after a long period of incarceration has led Courts to direct States to award compensation to the persons who suffered behind bars, only to be eventually held innocent. This right to compensation has been recognised by both Federal and State statutes. There are two ways that compensation can be claimed – tort claims/civil rights suits/moral bills of obligation and, statutory claims.”, the judgment authored by Justice Karol stated.

The Court noted that although the Law Commission of India's 277th report dealt with this issue, but its understanding of 'wrongful prosecution' was limited to only malicious prosecution, and the prosecution initiated without good faith without directly dealing with the situation of wrongful incarceration.

The Court observed that detaining a person who has been wrongfully convicted for an extended period violates their right to life and personal liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution, thereby entitling them to compensation, though the basis for such compensation may differ across jurisdictions.

Recently, another bench of the Supreme Court had opined that a case of clean acquittal may give rise to a claim for compensation for the wrongful imprisonment.

Background

The bench considered the case of the Appellant, who was acquitted after years of incarceration (including death row) because of faulty investigation including mishandling of DNA evidence, and judicial delays.

The Court acknowledged the Appellant's acquittal as a "clean acquittal", where there were no technical loopholes but a total failure of the prosecution's case. Thus, making an observation about the need of a law to grant compensation to such persons wrongfully convicted.

Cause Title: KATTAVELLAI @ DEVAKAR VERSUS STATE OF TAMILNADU

Citation : 2025 LiveLaw (SC) 703

Click here to read/download the judgment

Also From Judgment: 'Faulty Investigation' : Supreme Court Acquits Man On Death Row, Issues Nationwide Guidelines On DNA Evidence Handling