Does India need this kind of reformative justice?

With the introduction of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, in 2023 significant changes have occurred in the penal system of the country, the old Indian Penal Code was repealed and condensed into the new penal statute comprising 358 sections which are streamlined, concise, and with a more focused approach. New contemporary crimes such as cybercrime, organized crime, and terrorism are also incorporated into the new statute, and enhanced provisions for crime against women and children are also incorporated in the statute. Archaic laws such as the controversial sedition law u/s 124A of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 also have been repealed. The shift away from colonial laws such as the law of sedition is a significant change. This statute also focuses on the rights and protection of the victims by including expedited (accelerated) trials, and enhanced compensation mechanisms.

But when we come to the introduction of community service as a punishment for minor offenses which is considered to be a move towards reformative justice and a more rehabilitative approach to make an offender contribute positively to society by legislature. But considering the social structure of India this thing will not create a necessary apprehension in the mind of the offenders while committing an offense when we think of imprisonment as a punishment, it is related to a man's reputation and pride even though it will not give any positive outcome to someone but it will definitely create an apprehension into the minds of offenders and this will remind society what kinds of behaviors are acceptable and what are not. The punishment is aimed to discourage both the offender and others from committing similar crimes. The idea is that fear of punishment will prevent future offenses, and offenders should receive punishment proportional to the harm they caused. Making offenders do community service will definitely help in the rehabilitation of offenders but what about deterrence and retribution?

The concept of reformative justice should comply with the social structure of the country but when we try to focus on the social structure it has gotten worse day by day since the colonial era. Why do you think that is happening? In most parts of the country, people don’t even maintain common decency and basic human code then how are we going to make them do this without creating proper apprehension about the things that are not acceptable to be done in society?