Odd Indian laws: Why not walking your dog could land you in jail

A total of 370 out of 882 Indian laws criminalise 7,305 acts - from missed dog walks to murder.

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Of the 882 federal laws on the books, 370 contain criminal provisions - together criminalising 7,305 acts and omissions. These range from the absurd to the serious: failing to give a month's notice before quitting your job or not walking your dog enough, to offences like illegal arms possession, murder and sexual assault.

Delhi-based think-tank Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy calls it "India's crisis of over-criminalisation".

In a new report, The State of the System: Understanding the Scale of Crime and Punishment in India, the think-tank has produced the country's first comprehensive database of crimes, mapping the extent of criminalisation across 370 federal laws.

The report flags India's habit of reaching for criminal law to solve just about everything - even the mundane. It notes that many laws criminalise "routine, everyday actions".

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj0z7lde14eo

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