Prof.(Dr.) Priya Sepaha
Prof. (Dr.) Priya Sepaha is a Professor of Law and an experienced Director with a demonstrated history of working in the education management sector. She is M.A. (English), M.Phil. (English), LL. B, LL.M (Criminology) and UGC NET and Ph.D. (Law). She has worked extensively in the field of Criminology, Criminal Law, Personal Law, Torts and Contemporary issues.
She is a member of the International Society of Therapeutic Jurisprudence, USA, a member of the International Society of Criminology. She is also a Senior Peer Reviewer and member of the Editorial Board on Arts, Management and Social Sciences in various national and international journals, notably in India, Japan, UAE, and the United States.
She is a passionate writer on various aspects of Criminal Law, Criminology, Penology and Victimology. She has written six books and has also written many articles in many National and International Journals. She has presented papers in many National and International Conferences, distinctively in Harvard (the United States), Oxford (United Kingdom), Cambridge (United Kingdom), Brighton (United Kingdom), Singapore, Bangkok, Khon Kaen University (Thailand), Doha (Qatar) and Tokyo (Japan).
She had the distinction of being the Keynote Speaker at the International Conference held at Cambridge. She was a panelist at the conference at Harvard Law School (USA). She has also chaired the sessions at International Conferences held at India, Oxford, Cambridge, Tokyo, and Bangkok. She was adjudged the best presenter at the International Conference held in Singapore and received the ‘Best Paper Award’ at the International Research Conference, Tokyo.
She started the law website, “https://www.priyasepaha.com/”, YouTube channel “Dr. Priya Sepaha” and FB page, Instagram page “Law Colloquy” where she actively shares articles, legal news, lecture series and so on for law awareness.
She was awarded Swami Vivekananda Excellence Award 2017 in the field of “Academic Administration” by World’s Achiever’s Foundation and Confederation of Indian Universities, Delhi, awarded for “Environment Protection and Development 2017” by Scientific and Environment Research Institute at “World Clean Environment Congress 2017”, “National Teaching Excellence Award 2017” from International Benevolent Research Foundation and “Indian Education Award, 2019” in the field of “Research in Education” and “Excellent Researcher Award (Female)" by International Academic and Research Excellence Award (IARE-2019).
She is a member of the International Society of Therapeutic Jurisprudence, USA, a member of the International Society of Criminology. She is also a Senior Peer Reviewer and member of the Editorial Board on Arts, Management and Social Sciences in various national and international journals, notably in India, Japan, UAE, and the United States.
She is a passionate writer on various aspects of Criminal Law, Criminology, Penology and Victimology. She has written six books and has also written many articles in many National and International Journals. She has presented papers in many National and International Conferences, distinctively in Harvard (the United States), Oxford (United Kingdom), Cambridge (United Kingdom), Brighton (United Kingdom), Singapore, Bangkok, Khon Kaen University (Thailand), Doha (Qatar) and Tokyo (Japan).
She had the distinction of being the Keynote Speaker at the International Conference held at Cambridge. She was a panelist at the conference at Harvard Law School (USA). She has also chaired the sessions at International Conferences held at India, Oxford, Cambridge, Tokyo, and Bangkok. She was adjudged the best presenter at the International Conference held in Singapore and received the ‘Best Paper Award’ at the International Research Conference, Tokyo.
She started the law website, “https://www.priyasepaha.com/”, YouTube channel “Dr. Priya Sepaha” and FB page, Instagram page “Law Colloquy” where she actively shares articles, legal news, lecture series and so on for law awareness.
She was awarded Swami Vivekananda Excellence Award 2017 in the field of “Academic Administration” by World’s Achiever’s Foundation and Confederation of Indian Universities, Delhi, awarded for “Environment Protection and Development 2017” by Scientific and Environment Research Institute at “World Clean Environment Congress 2017”, “National Teaching Excellence Award 2017” from International Benevolent Research Foundation and “Indian Education Award, 2019” in the field of “Research in Education” and “Excellent Researcher Award (Female)" by International Academic and Research Excellence Award (IARE-2019).
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Papers by Prof.(Dr.) Priya Sepaha
psychological crime. Conversely, sexual crime and psychological crime are different in their
action and commission. To understand the difference between the two it is necessary to study the
detail of these crime and criminals. Sexual crimes mean a crime involving sexual assault like,
incest, rape, child assault and sodomy whereas psychological crime involves, insanity,
Schizophrenia, split-personality, unsoundness of mind and pschopathy. Motive plays the most
important role to analyze any crime and in both the cases motive is different. In sexual crime
motive is usually lust, obsession, pleasure, fun, revenge and sometimes abnormal behavior,
whereas in psychological crime it is always a disease due to which offender commits offence not
with any motive. Sexual criminals have remorse and they also try to hide their act while
psychological criminals do not have any remorse and they do not hide their act. Moreover,
sexual criminals understand the consequence of their act but psychological criminals are not
aware of it. Similarly sexual criminals can make out the difference between right and wrong
whereas psychological criminals fail to understand this. There must be clear bifurcation between
the two in the society for the better understanding. It is pertinent to discuss the judicial response
in this regard. It is difficult to make an estimate of criminal behaviour of persons with mental
disorders with precision because of the difficulty in obtaining reliable data. Thereby making the
understanding of sexual and psychological crime is a challenging task.
Mental diseases need to be explicable in reference to their severity and gravity especially having the instinct towards crime. Psychopathy is one of the most dangerous mental diseases and provides a theoretical and practical challenge to the Criminal law and the Criminal Justice System.
Due to the lack of information and awareness about psychopaths they are generally considered as monsters, not patients, moreover, rather than punitive a therapeutic approach should be followed for the benefit of society, human rights, and psychopaths.
Efforts have been made in countries like U.K. and U.S.A. in this direction. Special laws have been promulgated keeping in view the scientific fact that mentally ill offenders are not criminals but victims in their own ways as they are generally unaware of the disease and the consequences of the crime committed by them. There is an urgent need to create mass awareness of this disease and to make separate sentencing policy for psychopaths.
It is surprising to learn that although, this provision was introduced in IPC for a good cause but now it is being blatantly misused by some females to harass their husband and his relatives. In many cases, this has become a new mode of blackmailing, harassment, divorce and revenge. There are myriad instances where the police have arrested elderly parents, unmarried sisters and even pregnant sister-in-laws, without any investigation due to which they have to suffer mental stress, humiliation and agony. In a few cases, the accused husbands or their family members have also committed suicide due to humiliation.
The existing legal provisions mandate that there should be an instant arrest as a result of such complaints, but recently Supreme Court in Arnesh Kumar case passed a landmark judgment that there should be no immediate arrest without investigation. This is merely a preliminary step to check this emerging menace, but there is a long way to go.
This paper discusses the affects of misuse of the provisions of section 498-A by some females in today’s scenario who are using this as a weapon rather than a shield resulting in the present pathetic condition of the husband and his relatives. The paper attempts to propose with the help of case laws and statistics that strict guidelines should be issued to check the increasing misuse of 498A.
Books by Prof.(Dr.) Priya Sepaha
The key learning from various theories of causation of crime indicate that psychology plays a prominent role in criminal tendency and crime committed. The psychoanalytic theory helps to analyse criminal motives and behaviour by comparing the crime rate and nature of crime committed by persons suffering from various abnormal behaviours.
Crime cannot be explained solely by the psychoanalytic theory because it has strong correlation with geographical, anthropological, economic and social factors also. However, the knowledge of psychology has significantly contributed to the study of criminology, particularly in terms of its methodology, application of some of its own database and theories. Therefore an integrated approach for developing theories and explanations for the occurrence of crime help in analysing the crime problem holistically.
This paper attempts to analyse the pattern of crime committed in the recent past, particularly in India, and suggests that there is need to study the same in an integrated manner along with the psychoanalytic approach in order to understand the deep rooted causes of the crime and criminal behaviour and thereby initiate dialogue for more social, governmental and judicial action in order to ensure safe and secure environment at all public places.
Keywords: Psychoanalytic approach, crime, causation, psychological theory, criminology
Insanity, unsoundness of mind and schizophrenia are terms which are commonly used for mentally ill patients. Mental diseases are not explicable in reference to their severity and gravity especially having the instinct towards crime. That is why when a crime is committed by mentally ill offenders they are not treated separately. It has become a trend to call any person having abnormal and unnatural tendency a ‘psychopath’, without knowing the correct meaning of this word. This needs a proper explanation.
Much research has been done vis-a-vis mental illness and its categories. Psychopathy is one of the most dangerous mental diseases and provides a theoretical and practical challenge to the Criminal law and the Criminal Justice System in general.
Psychiatry and law approach the problem of human behaviour from different philosophical perspectives. Psychiatry purports to be scientific and take a deterministic position with regard to behaviour. Its view of human nature is expressed in terms of drives and dispositions which, like mechanical forces, operate in accordance with universal laws of causation.
The Criminal law is, however, ‘a practical, rational, normative science which, although it draws upon theoretical science, also is a concern to pass judgment on human conduct. Although much research has been done on psychopaths to get in-depth knowledge about psychopaths and their distinctiveness like, their behaviour, crime and problems in society due to them, in foreign countries, similarly there is an urgent need for advanced research in this un-emphasized area in India. Adequate research in this field will pave way for a separate sentencing policy for psychopaths.
In India, some provisions are mentioned in different statutes pertaining to person suffering from a mental disease, for instance, in the Indian Penal Code, Section 84 deals with the law of insanity, the Indian Evidence Act also has some provisions related to psychopaths, and The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, also mentions the procedure for the trial of an insane person. Psychopathy is also mentioned under the Hindu Marriage Act. Still, all these laws are inadequate to deal with the problem related to psychopaths, as they can be broadly categorized as general laws for mentally ill patients. Steps have been taken in this area in other countries like the U.K.
and the U.S.A, and as a result they have enacted separate statutes for the treatment of psychopaths.
Due to the lack of information and awareness about psychopaths, generally, they are considered as monsters, and not patients. This mindset has to be changed and they should be treated rationally. Psychopaths are patients and not criminals; they should be properly treated and cured rather than punished. They are dangerous and do not understand emotions. ‘Guilt' and understanding of the consequence of the act is completely absent in them. They do not realize why they are being punished and they do not even regret the act, because do not understand emotions. This ambiguity has to be solved by enacting a special law for such category of mentally ill patient - criminals. Moreover, rather than punitive a therapeutic approach should be followed for the benefit of the society, psychopaths and human rights.
Psychopaths are victims in their own way. The predicament with psychopaths is an unawareness of the disease and the consequences of crime. It is not only the psychopaths but many erudite persons are also not aware of the severity of the disease. In India, the whole system needs to be modified in some way to understand and get acquainted with the different categories of mentally ill criminals, especially psychopaths, because they are perhaps the most dangerous and harmful category of patients/criminals. We can hope to bring about a change in this state of affairs. It has to start with the parents and the society. Firstly, parents need to get aware of the disease and try to treat their child at an early stage if they find anything unusual in their child. Secondly, if society is aware of the disease then they can be more sympathetic and helpful towards the diseased, their parents, doctors and the system dealing with them. As a further extension, Thirdly, our legislative, executive and judicial system have to be modified to properly handle and deal with the victims of this disease. Mental health Act should not be viewed as a one-time event, but as an ongoing process that evolves with time. This means that Act should be reviewed, revised and amended in the light of advances made in the treatment of mental disorders especially serious patients like psychopaths. This should be clubbed with improvements in service development and delivery systems. There can be a separate statute for serious patients (psychopaths) with minute details for handling and treatment. Fourthly, an awareness programme should be held about the ramifications of the disease with the help of the print and electronic media and NGO’s. Fifthly, an amendment is suggested in the education system for
introducing mental disorders or laws pertaining to psychopathy as a special subject in the curriculum as that can be critically helpful to understand and diagnose the disease in the early stage.
Special laws should be framed keeping in view the fact that the mentally ill offenders are not criminals but victims of their own causes in many ways.
Conference Presentations by Prof.(Dr.) Priya Sepaha
psychological crime. Conversely, sexual crime and psychological crime are different in their
action and commission. To understand the difference between the two it is necessary to study the
detail of these crime and criminals. Sexual crimes mean a crime involving sexual assault like,
incest, rape, child assault and sodomy whereas psychological crime involves, insanity,
Schizophrenia, split-personality, unsoundness of mind and pschopathy. Motive plays the most
important role to analyze any crime and in both the cases motive is different. In sexual crime
motive is usually lust, obsession, pleasure, fun, revenge and sometimes abnormal behavior,
whereas in psychological crime it is always a disease due to which offender commits offence not
with any motive. Sexual criminals have remorse and they also try to hide their act while
psychological criminals do not have any remorse and they do not hide their act. Moreover,
sexual criminals understand the consequence of their act but psychological criminals are not
aware of it. Similarly sexual criminals can make out the difference between right and wrong
whereas psychological criminals fail to understand this. There must be clear bifurcation between
the two in the society for the better understanding. It is pertinent to discuss the judicial response
in this regard. It is difficult to make an estimate of criminal behaviour of persons with mental
disorders with precision because of the difficulty in obtaining reliable data. Thereby making the
understanding of sexual and psychological crime is a challenging task.
Mental diseases need to be explicable in reference to their severity and gravity especially having the instinct towards crime. Psychopathy is one of the most dangerous mental diseases and provides a theoretical and practical challenge to the Criminal law and the Criminal Justice System.
Due to the lack of information and awareness about psychopaths they are generally considered as monsters, not patients, moreover, rather than punitive a therapeutic approach should be followed for the benefit of society, human rights, and psychopaths.
Efforts have been made in countries like U.K. and U.S.A. in this direction. Special laws have been promulgated keeping in view the scientific fact that mentally ill offenders are not criminals but victims in their own ways as they are generally unaware of the disease and the consequences of the crime committed by them. There is an urgent need to create mass awareness of this disease and to make separate sentencing policy for psychopaths.
It is surprising to learn that although, this provision was introduced in IPC for a good cause but now it is being blatantly misused by some females to harass their husband and his relatives. In many cases, this has become a new mode of blackmailing, harassment, divorce and revenge. There are myriad instances where the police have arrested elderly parents, unmarried sisters and even pregnant sister-in-laws, without any investigation due to which they have to suffer mental stress, humiliation and agony. In a few cases, the accused husbands or their family members have also committed suicide due to humiliation.
The existing legal provisions mandate that there should be an instant arrest as a result of such complaints, but recently Supreme Court in Arnesh Kumar case passed a landmark judgment that there should be no immediate arrest without investigation. This is merely a preliminary step to check this emerging menace, but there is a long way to go.
This paper discusses the affects of misuse of the provisions of section 498-A by some females in today’s scenario who are using this as a weapon rather than a shield resulting in the present pathetic condition of the husband and his relatives. The paper attempts to propose with the help of case laws and statistics that strict guidelines should be issued to check the increasing misuse of 498A.
The key learning from various theories of causation of crime indicate that psychology plays a prominent role in criminal tendency and crime committed. The psychoanalytic theory helps to analyse criminal motives and behaviour by comparing the crime rate and nature of crime committed by persons suffering from various abnormal behaviours.
Crime cannot be explained solely by the psychoanalytic theory because it has strong correlation with geographical, anthropological, economic and social factors also. However, the knowledge of psychology has significantly contributed to the study of criminology, particularly in terms of its methodology, application of some of its own database and theories. Therefore an integrated approach for developing theories and explanations for the occurrence of crime help in analysing the crime problem holistically.
This paper attempts to analyse the pattern of crime committed in the recent past, particularly in India, and suggests that there is need to study the same in an integrated manner along with the psychoanalytic approach in order to understand the deep rooted causes of the crime and criminal behaviour and thereby initiate dialogue for more social, governmental and judicial action in order to ensure safe and secure environment at all public places.
Keywords: Psychoanalytic approach, crime, causation, psychological theory, criminology
Insanity, unsoundness of mind and schizophrenia are terms which are commonly used for mentally ill patients. Mental diseases are not explicable in reference to their severity and gravity especially having the instinct towards crime. That is why when a crime is committed by mentally ill offenders they are not treated separately. It has become a trend to call any person having abnormal and unnatural tendency a ‘psychopath’, without knowing the correct meaning of this word. This needs a proper explanation.
Much research has been done vis-a-vis mental illness and its categories. Psychopathy is one of the most dangerous mental diseases and provides a theoretical and practical challenge to the Criminal law and the Criminal Justice System in general.
Psychiatry and law approach the problem of human behaviour from different philosophical perspectives. Psychiatry purports to be scientific and take a deterministic position with regard to behaviour. Its view of human nature is expressed in terms of drives and dispositions which, like mechanical forces, operate in accordance with universal laws of causation.
The Criminal law is, however, ‘a practical, rational, normative science which, although it draws upon theoretical science, also is a concern to pass judgment on human conduct. Although much research has been done on psychopaths to get in-depth knowledge about psychopaths and their distinctiveness like, their behaviour, crime and problems in society due to them, in foreign countries, similarly there is an urgent need for advanced research in this un-emphasized area in India. Adequate research in this field will pave way for a separate sentencing policy for psychopaths.
In India, some provisions are mentioned in different statutes pertaining to person suffering from a mental disease, for instance, in the Indian Penal Code, Section 84 deals with the law of insanity, the Indian Evidence Act also has some provisions related to psychopaths, and The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, also mentions the procedure for the trial of an insane person. Psychopathy is also mentioned under the Hindu Marriage Act. Still, all these laws are inadequate to deal with the problem related to psychopaths, as they can be broadly categorized as general laws for mentally ill patients. Steps have been taken in this area in other countries like the U.K.
and the U.S.A, and as a result they have enacted separate statutes for the treatment of psychopaths.
Due to the lack of information and awareness about psychopaths, generally, they are considered as monsters, and not patients. This mindset has to be changed and they should be treated rationally. Psychopaths are patients and not criminals; they should be properly treated and cured rather than punished. They are dangerous and do not understand emotions. ‘Guilt' and understanding of the consequence of the act is completely absent in them. They do not realize why they are being punished and they do not even regret the act, because do not understand emotions. This ambiguity has to be solved by enacting a special law for such category of mentally ill patient - criminals. Moreover, rather than punitive a therapeutic approach should be followed for the benefit of the society, psychopaths and human rights.
Psychopaths are victims in their own way. The predicament with psychopaths is an unawareness of the disease and the consequences of crime. It is not only the psychopaths but many erudite persons are also not aware of the severity of the disease. In India, the whole system needs to be modified in some way to understand and get acquainted with the different categories of mentally ill criminals, especially psychopaths, because they are perhaps the most dangerous and harmful category of patients/criminals. We can hope to bring about a change in this state of affairs. It has to start with the parents and the society. Firstly, parents need to get aware of the disease and try to treat their child at an early stage if they find anything unusual in their child. Secondly, if society is aware of the disease then they can be more sympathetic and helpful towards the diseased, their parents, doctors and the system dealing with them. As a further extension, Thirdly, our legislative, executive and judicial system have to be modified to properly handle and deal with the victims of this disease. Mental health Act should not be viewed as a one-time event, but as an ongoing process that evolves with time. This means that Act should be reviewed, revised and amended in the light of advances made in the treatment of mental disorders especially serious patients like psychopaths. This should be clubbed with improvements in service development and delivery systems. There can be a separate statute for serious patients (psychopaths) with minute details for handling and treatment. Fourthly, an awareness programme should be held about the ramifications of the disease with the help of the print and electronic media and NGO’s. Fifthly, an amendment is suggested in the education system for
introducing mental disorders or laws pertaining to psychopathy as a special subject in the curriculum as that can be critically helpful to understand and diagnose the disease in the early stage.
Special laws should be framed keeping in view the fact that the mentally ill offenders are not criminals but victims of their own causes in many ways.