"Acquittal is not the end of injustice." Discuss the case for a statutory compensation and rehabilitation framework for the wrongfully convicted.

The Supreme Court acquitted Surinder Koli in November 2025 after nearly two decades in prison and 13 death sentences [1]. His death months later shows that release restores liberty but not health, livelihood or reputation — making a statutory remedy overdue.

The injustice that survives release

• Irrecoverable years: close to 20 years in custody, much of it on death row, with all 13 death sentences (2009–2022) eventually reversed [1].
• State fault, not misfortune: the case rested on a confession later found to have been given under torture; the Allahabad High Court called the investigation "botched up" and faulted the "easy course of implicating a poor servant" [1].
• Post-release vacuum: no psychosocial care, housing, employment or monetary assistance awaited him [1] — the stigma of media labelling outlived the verdict.

The legal gap

• India has no statute on compensation for wrongful prosecution; relief depends on discretionary writ jurisdiction under Article 21.
• India has signed but not ratified the UN Convention against Torture [3], so no dedicated offence or redress route exists for custodial coercion.
• A High Court's criticism of an investigation ends with the acquittal; no forum converts it into accountability.

A ready blueprint: Law Commission Report No. 277 (2018)

• Chaired by Justice B.S. Chauhan, it urged amending the CrPC to create a statutory right to compensation, with special courts in every district using summary procedure [2].
• It sought both pecuniary relief and non-pecuniary support — counselling, vocational skilling, and removal of disqualifications in jobs and education [2].
• Quantum to reflect length of detention, damage to health, harm to reputation and lost opportunities [2].

The reasonable objection, answered Acquittal often means "not proved" rather than innocence, and blanket payouts would be unaffordable. The Commission therefore triggers liability only on malice or absence of good faith by the prosecuting side [2] — state misconduct, not mere release.

Enacting the 2018 framework would convert an acquittal from a bare declaration into genuine restoration, aligning criminal justice with Article 21's guarantee of a life with dignity and with SDG-16's promise of access to justice for all.