PLEA BARGAINING IN INDIA: A CRITICAL APPRAISAL

AUTHOR – ISSAC BIFY PULLUKATTU* & DR. ARVIND KUMAR SINGH**

* STUDENT AT AMITY UNIVERSITY, LUCKNOW

** PROFESSOR AT AMITY UNIVERSITY, LUCKNOW

BEST CITATION – ISSAC BIFY PULLUKATTU & DR. ARVIND KUMAR SINGH, PLEA BARGAINING IN INDIA: A CRITICAL APPRAISAL, INDIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL REVIEW (IJLR), 6 (4) OF 2026, PG. 162-175, APIS – 3920 – 0001 & ISSN – 2583-2344.

Abstract

Plea bargaining was introduced into the Indian criminal justice system through Chapter XXI-A of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC) by the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2005, and has now been re-enacted with minor modifications under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS). It represents one of the most significant procedural innovations in post-independence Indian jurisprudence. The mechanism allows an accused person, charged with an offence not punishable by death, life imprisonment, or more than seven years’ imprisonment, to enter into a mutually satisfactory disposition with the prosecution and the victim, resulting in a reduced sentence imposed by the court. Despite being formally available for nearly two decades, empirical data reveal a strikingly low rate of use, prompting serious questions about its design, accessibility, and the structural conditions of Indian criminal justice. This paper undertakes a comprehensive examination of the statutory framework of plea bargaining in India—beginning from its historical genesis, tracking its legislative contours under the CrPC and the BNSS, and then subjecting it to critical analysis from the vantage points of procedural fairness, victim rights, systemic efficiency, and constitutional validity. Drawing upon Law Commission Reports, National Crime Records Bureau statistics, comparative jurisprudence from the United States and other jurisdictions, and scholarly commentary, the paper identifies the key promises and pitfalls of plea bargaining in India and concludes with a set of reform recommendations aimed at transforming this largely dormant provision into a genuinely functional instrument of restorative and expeditious justice.