A two-day National Conference on ‘Plea bargaining, sentencing and Capital punishment’ began at the Odisha Judicial Academy here on Saturday being attended by over a dozen judges from the Supreme Court and High Courts.
The speakers were of the view that the accused persons should take the benefit of plea bargaining in order to avoid lengthy criminal proceedings.
District Judges of nearly 18 States are also participating in the conference. More than 100 delegates are scheduled to deliberate on the three important topics. In plea bargaining, the accused agrees to plead guilty in return for a lenient punishment and it is an agreement between the accused and the prosecution so that the lengthy criminal proceedings are cut short to reduce the burdens on the courts.
Inaugurated by Supreme Court judge AK Patnaik, the opening session was addressed, among others, by former SC judge SB Sinha, SC judge V Gopala Gowda, Chief Justice of Odisha AK Goel, Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh KJ Sengupta, Bombay HC judge VM Kanade and Odisha HC judge BR Sarangi.