Overcriminalisation is a legal concept that refers to the unprincipled and disproportionate expansion of criminal law by the state. It involves the abuse of coercive power through the enactment of criminal statutes that apply criminal sanctions to conduct that should be addressed by civil or regulatory measures. The problem is rooted in the sheer volume of laws, with the R. Ramanujam Committee (2014) noting 2,781 laws on the central statute book, many of which stipulate criminal sanctions.
The mechanism of overcriminalisation often involves treating minor civil wrongdoings, such as contractual conflicts or technical defaults, as criminal offenses. For instance, provisions like Section 406 (criminal breach of trust) and Section 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) are frequently invoked in matters that are essentially civil disputes. This practice violates the principle of proportionality and results in severe consequences, including the erosion of personal liberty, judicial congestion, and the overcrowding of prisons.
The concept connects directly to the recent overhaul of India's criminal justice system. The government has attempted to address this through the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Act, 2023, which decriminalised 183 provisions across 42 Central laws. This Act works by replacing imprisonment clauses for minor procedural lapses with civil and administrative alternatives, such as monetary penalties. However, the debate continues with the introduction of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), which some critics argue represents "selective over-criminalisation" in certain areas. The overall goal of these reforms is to shift from a punitive model to one of "trust-based governance".