The Principle of Restorative Justice Towards the Strengthening of Crime Prevention as Viewed from the Pragmatic Gandhian Lens

Abstract

The term “restoration” in legal parlance means to restore someone to its original position. The theory of restorative justice was developed mainly after realizing that the obligation of the state was not merely to punish the wrongdoer and to deter wrongful acts, but it also had an obligation to understand the needs of the society and to see as to who is at the receiving end of these punishments while awarding just compensation to victims. Restorative justice is a method of responding to criminal behaviour by taking into account various aspects like the needs of the community, the victims, and the offenders, and this is often associated with the Gandhi’s three teachings, i.e. ahimsa, often translated as “non-violence”; Swaraj, i.e. the concept of self-rule which encourages both individuals and communities to call upon their best self; and, satyagrah, i.e. striving towards truth-telling and truth-seeking. In modern India, one can see the inclusion of restorative justice in the administration of criminal justice system. Restorative justice offers the society an opportunity to deal with crimes in a grown-up manner in which it had never been addressed before. The concept of restorative justice is expanding wide enough to deal with varied crimes, ages, and situations, and as it starts to make some sense at the international, national, and also regional level, the responsibilities of restorative justice practitioners along with academicians too are increasing. Therefore, the need of the hour is building of bridges in order to remove the gap between the theoretical and practical development of restorative justice in India and which precisely is the endeavour of this paper, i.e. to first analyse the principle of restorative justice towards strengthening of crime prevention while throwing light on the gap that appears to exist between the theoretical and practical development and then attempting to provide remedies for removing the gaps with reference to the Gandhian principles and his teachings.