Hyderabad, April 15 -- India's criminal justice system is founded on a constitutional framework of liberty, equality, and dignity. Yet for many, particularly the poor and marginalised, these ideals remain elusive. The system often ends up controlling or excluding them through legal complexity, systemic opacity, and procedural indifference.

While laws are meant to create fairness, they frequently produce unintended consequences. Regulatory gaps, inaccessible legal aid, and the disproportionate impact of policing measures on certain groups raise important questions: Who is the justice system built for? And who remains invisible within it?

Poverty as a crime

It is shocking how the current legal order tends to criminalise poverty. Anti-beg...