Developing a Structure for Adjudicating Entrapment Claims in India

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to develop a structure for adjudicating entrapment claims (or sting operations) by private and state parties in India. The aim is to discourage charging entrappers as abettors to the offence, especially in the context of crimes of private nature. This will be accomplished by recommending legislative and judicial sanction for excluding entrapment defence in cases where the crime is in attempt stage. The paper begins by tracing the history and development of the law on entrapment in India. Thereafter, it engages in a critical assessment of the entrapment defence and its consequences in England & Wales, where it has been debated amongst policy makers, judges and academics for several decades. Finally, it contextualises the need for defining a structure to allow passive entrapment by referring to crimes of private nature. It concludes by providing a structure for determining entrapment claims by establishing a test to determine whether criminality was ongoing or not.

Keywords: entrapment, sting operation, policing, Indian evidence law