NEW DELHI: The government is in favour of the higher judiciary strengthening the adversarial system of the criminal justice system in order to make it resemble the ones in France, Germany and other European countries where judges play a more pro-active role in securing justice for victims of serious crimes.A law ministry paper on strengthening the criminal justice system says pending serious criminal cases have increased from 2.1 million in 2009 to 2.8 million in 2014, and in 58% cases tried in 2014, the accused was either discharged or acquitted. The issues have been listed for discussion at a highlevel advisory council meeting, scheduled for October 18, where the government is likely to recommend adopting some of the good features of the inquisitorial system followed in the European countries. The advisory council meeting will be chaired by law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and will be attended by the junior home minister, senior officials of the law ministry and registrar of the Supreme Court The measures to be recommended include the duty of the court to search for the truth; assignment of "more pro-active role to the judges to give directions to the investigation officers and prosecution agencies and leading evidence with the object of seeking the truth and focusing on justice to victim".The law ministry is also in favour of amending the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) incorporating a statement that `quest for truth shall be the fundamental duty of every court'. The advisory council is likely to recommend that Section 311 of the CrPC should be amended to state that "any court may at any stage of any inquiry trial or proceeding under this Code...shall summon and examine or recall and re-examine any such person already ex amined as it appears necessary for discovering the truth."The paper has also suggested separation of investigation and law and order wings of the police as part of the police reforms. It has emphasised on use of forensic science and modern technology in investigations and creation of a cadre of crime officers who would be responsible for preservation and collection of data from the crime scene. Audiovideo recording of statement of witnesses, dying declarations and confessions should be authorised, the paper observed.It says stringent punishment should be prescribed for false registration of cases and false complaints; and investigations of grave and sensational crimes should be carried out by a team rather than a single investigating officer in order to ensure proper appraisal of evidence and application of law and promote greater transparency.