Accusatorial

Meaning

The word pertains to a system of legal procedure in which a person who is accused of an offence, is tried by the judicial authorities.This system of criminal justice helps in establishing the liability and punishment by the due process of prosecution and defence. The judge here allows the facts to emerge from the exchange of viewpoints between the prosecutor and the defence along with the rules of evidence.

Although no country has a pure accusatorial or a pure inquisitorial system, India uses the procedures inspired by the accusatorial tradition and other civil law countries have a structure skewing towards the inquisitorial tradition. Elements such as judicial initiative of calling witnesses falls under the accusatorial framework.

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Illustration‍

A registered an FIR against B for the commission of a criminal offence. The police conducted the investigation. After the offender was taken into police custody,he was further investigated and within 24 hours from the time of arrest, the accused was produced before the concerned judicial magistrate.The police then filed an final report alleging the offences committed by the accused supported by the evidences. The trial commenced when the magistrate framed the charges against the accused and the accused denied them. The public prosecutor representing the State conducted the trial. Since the State took up the case against the accused person of having committed multiple offences, this system is thereby called as the accusatorial system.

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Case Law:

D.K. Basu vs. State of West Bengal

This case dealt with the issue of custodial violence against the prisoners. It was observed that many deaths of prisoners were taking place whilst they were remanded or jailed. The Apex court issued 11 commandments in pursuance and insisted that fundamental rights 21 and 22(1)must be obeyed. These would be equally applicable to other Government agencies of other states as well.