New criminal laws introduce community service for minor offences, including defamation

Srinagar, Oct 26: The newly enacted Bharatiya Nyaya Samhita, 2023, has introduced Community Service as a formal mode of punishment—marking the first time such a provision has been codified in Indian law.

This progressive reform empowers the judiciary to sentence certain offenders, particularly those involved in minor and non-violent crimes, to community-based work instead of traditional incarceration.

Under Section 4(f) of the BNS, community service is officially listed as one of the six forms of punishment, alongside traditional sentences such as death, life imprisonment, forfeiture of property, fines, and imprisonment (rigorous or simple). This makes India one of the few countries in the developing world to formally adopt community service into its statutory criminal sentencing framework.

The definition of community service is detailed in Section 23 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Samhita (BNSS), 2023. According to the provision, it is defined as “work which the court may order a convict to perform as a form of punishment that benefits the community, for which he shall not be entitled to any remuneration.”

While this punishment applies only to minor and non-violent offences, the BNS has laid down clear instances where community service can be considered that included petty theft under Rs 20,000 by a first-time offender (Section 303(2)), attempt to commit suicide to influence lawful authority (Section 226), non-appearance before a court after being proclaimed (Section 209), public intoxication and misconduct (Section 355) and defamation (Section 356(2)).

In these cases, the courts may — at their discretion — substitute jail time or fines with a stint of community service. This is seen as a progressive alternative, especially in cases where the crime doesn’t justify incarceration.

“#NewCriminalLaws. From Cell to Service: A New Era of Justice Begins!

Minor offences like defamation now lead to community service instead of jail — focusing on reform, not punishment.#BharatiyaNayaySanhita @KashmirPolice @ZPHQJammu

@crimebranchjkp,” J&K Police said in a post on X. Community Service as a punishment is more of giving the offender a chance to rectify his mistake than punish him. Even though the main aim of the Criminal Justice System is to punish the wrongdoer, community service is given for relatively trivial offences and therefore acts as a positive mode of dealing with crime rather than punishing the offender with severe prison sentences.

Sentencing the convicts to community service rather than Prison Terms helps to reduce the number of incarcerated people and thus decreases the burden on the already overpopulated and overcrowded Prisons in India. The reduction in the number of inmates of a prison also helps the prison system and management to function smoothly with the prisons under their charge.

By engaging the offenders in Community service the focus shifts from inflicting punishment on them to rehabilitate them. Owing to the triviality of the offence the offender has committed, he never really is a threat to society in the sense that he needs to be punished severely for these kinds of offences.

Sentencing these offenders to Community Service is also cost-effective on the part of the Government as managing the prisons is an extremely expensive affair, and by reducing the number of inmates, the burden on the finances of prison systems decreases manifold.

A community system can be tailored in a way that rectifies the effects of the offence that the offender has committed.

Ex:- An offender who has committed a theft at a small finances bank, he has now been told by the court to work with a charity for 3 months, whereby he has been given the duty to work in the Finances Department of such a charity and manage the finances.

The Judges have the discretion to sentence the community service in proportion to the offence that the offender has committed. The judge can manage the sentence better so as to be in the best interests of the community and keep the societal needs in mind.

Working under the sentence of community service fosters a sense of professional responsibility in the offender and creates a feeling of accountability to the community against which he has committed the offence.