Lawmann's Investigation to Trial :The Book for a Common Man : Criminal Law Abhilash Malhotra

How the Legal System Works?
It is always a difficult question to answer ‘How our Legal System Works?’ The legal system has always remained complex for the common man. A person looking forward to exercising a legal remedy is often puzzled with a plethora of questions like what is the right forum, applicable laws, choosing a counsel, drafting of pleadings, pre-litigation compliances, limitation, cause of action, Court fees, Court procedures, the status of interim reliefs etc.
Anything we do in society is somewhere connected to a legal domain. Business, Innovation, Construction, Trading, Taxes etc. all are subject matters of law. It is difficult to escape from the ambit of the law. Therefore, it is necessary to have a fundamental understanding of how our legal system works. If we are able to perceive the legal system from an aerial view, then zooming in and microscopic examination of a problem in various specialized branches of law is not an uphill task.
How Can a Common Law Understand Criminal Law?
The big question is how? How can one understand the Constitution of India, Complex Central/State legislation, Rules of procedure, Guidelines, Circulars and Precedents in a go?
To demystify law from a common man’s perspective, we need to adopt a systematic step by step approach to understanding the basics of law and its application to the problem at hand. There is a need to understand the fundamental principles of Criminal law and its application to factual scenarios, touching day to day life.
Why does the traffic cop impound one vehicle and let another go? Why is a person arrested in a case and not in other? Why the police do not register a case? What can you do about it? What will be the jurisdiction? What will be the forum? What if the jurisdictions overlap? Please gift yourself all these innumerable Whys!
Let us understand how the Criminal Justice System functions and how various stakeholders like Police, Prosecution, Judiciary, Prison, Probation officers and Forensic etc. play their roles.
I am hopeful that the coming pages will help in developing a practical understanding of Criminal Law and trigger your thoughts.