Lectures On Procedural Laws (2023) By Aishwarya Pratap Singh, Lexis Nexis [Book Review]

The conflict and court marshal side by side and procedural law assumes the ‘role of lens of the law’ to magnify the litigation and judgment. The procedural laws sound full of magic because it conjures a world of its own and seeks to capture the ‘real’ world in its social legal milieu. Lectures on Procedural Laws by Aishwarya Pratap Singh capture the arte facts/craft of procedural laws in pragmatic fashion. It dexterously dwells on the intricacies and complexities with lucidity and clarity to not only students, practitioners and teachers alike. The foundational values of the the procedural laws derive sustenance and life breath from the principles of natural justice.The principle ‘audi alteram partem’, which means that ‘no one should be condemned unheard’ can only be realized through the instrumentality of fair procedural compliance and canons of justice. right from the rights of arrested person, the concept of remand, the stage of charge framing, the right of hearing to the convict after the pronouncement of judgment on the quantum of sentence are all based on the procedural laws. The blurb of the book mentions that the ‘procedural laws constitutes the core’, ‘conceptual clarity’ and ‘policy of law’ for ‘law student and advocates’. It further adumbrates the key features of the book which runs from the underlying legal policies of the provisions of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 Civil Procedure Code, 1908 Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 and Mediation Bill, 2021. It further envisages the key features of the book as an embodiment of Theoretical and applied discourse for easy reference, critical analysis of the Ratio and obiter of the Supreme Court and High Courts and authentically crafted Multiple Choice Question and model answers. The Foreword authored by Justice Krishan Murari succinctly underlines the need of such a book by asserting that ‘procedural plays a major role in dispensation of justice, and without proper procedural laws, the substantive laws which define offences and provide punishments for them, would be almost worthless.’ He further explicated the trilogy of the statutes Indian Evidence Act, 1872 Civil Procedure Code, 1908 and Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 is sine quo non for the litigation, court and judicial strategy. To quote: A clear understanding of the procedural laws is necessary for everyone associated with the administration of justice, as it plays a major role in making the substantive law effective. Justice Krishan Murari while commending the author and his streak of writing observed as under: Conceptual yet brief exposition of procedural laws does not come easy to hand and so this work constitutes a notable welcome exception. The author in his preface mentions that ‘mastery of procedural law becomes indispensable’ in the myriad of the laws and rules and orders and state enactments. According to the author, the ‘labyrinth of the commentaries’ compounds confusion for the student and bibliophile practitioners of the law. Therefore the ‘practical and contemporary flavor’ of the bench and bar summons for restatement of these laws with clarity and precision. To this end the book is divided in to three parts for the penultimate analysis and in depth examination. The first part of the book deals with the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 in digging out the ‘jurisprudential essence of the Criminal Procedure Code’ which historically linked to the pronouncement of the Supreme Court in Kesavanand Bharti v. State of Kerala and ‘doctrine of basic structure’ in 1973. It has ripple effect on the evolution of the constitutional jurisprudence transcended it impact in shaping the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 in conferring the fair criminal trial and justice delivery. According to the author ’the jurisprudential essence of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 has to be seen in the essential balancing of the interests of the accused and the society.’ It became a testing pad of all laws and reached to the culminating point in Iqbal Ismail Sodawala v. State of Maharashtra, 1974 by laying down that the ‘Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 spells out the rule of law against the rule of whims and caprice.’ The knotty and gritty of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 carved out in more than 150 pages encapsulating hierarchy of court, power of sentencing, investigation by police, cognizance and subsequent proceedings before magistrate. The constitutional safeguards for arrest, bail and framing of charges in the trial are vividly portrayed with easy understanding of the author. The book also dichotomizes the merger of civil remedy under the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 in regard to the maintenance of the wives, children and parents. The notion of the probation and parole culled out with an emphasis on the extra mural character of the law in humanizing criminal justice system. The author...

Lectures On Procedural Laws (2023) By Aishwarya Pratap Singh, Lexis Nexis [Book Review]

M.Z.M.Nomani

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