PTI, NEW DELHI, JULY 1, 2024 : Three new criminal laws came into effect in the country on Monday, bringing far-reaching changes in India’s criminal justice system. The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA) take into account some of the current social realities and modern-day crimes.
The new laws replaced the British-era Indian Penal Code, Code of Criminal Procedure and the Indian Evidence Act, respectively. From Monday, all fresh FIRs will be registered under the BNS. However, cases filed earlier will continue to be tried under the old laws till their final disposals.
The new laws brought in a modern justice system, incorporating provisions such as Zero FIR, online registration of police complaints, summonses through electronic modes such as SMS and mandatory videography of crime scenes for all heinous crimes.
The new laws have tried to address some of the current social realities and crimes and are going to provide a mechanism to effectively deal with these, keeping in view the ideals enshrined in the Constitution, official sources said. Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who piloted the laws, had said the new laws would give priority to providing justice, unlike the colonial-era laws that gave primacy to penal action.”
These laws are made by Indians, for Indians and by an Indian Parliament and marks the end of colonial criminal justice laws,” Shah had said.
The Home Minister had further said the laws were not just about changing the nomenclature but bringing about a complete overhaul.
“Soul, body and spirit” of the new laws is Indian,” he had said. Justice is an umbrella term that encompasses both the victim and the culprit, the Home Minister had said and added these new laws would ensure political, economic and social justice with an Indian ethos.
According to the new laws, judgment in criminal cases has to come within45 days of completion of trial and charges must be framed within 60days of first hearing. Statement of rape victims will be recorded by a woman police officer in presence of her guardian or relative and medical reports have to come within seven days.
Organised crimes and acts of terrorism have been defined, sedition has been replaced with treason and video recording of all search and seizures made mandatory.
A new chapter on crimes against women and children has been added, buying and selling of any child made a heinous crime and there is a provision for death sentence or life imprisonment for gang rape of a minor.
Offences against women and children, murder and offences against the State have been given precedence in the new law.
With the new laws coming into effect, the Congress on Monday accused the Union government of getting them “forcibly” passed in Parliament after suspending 146 MPs and asserted that going forward, the INDIA bloc will not allow such “bulldozer justice” to prevail in the country’s parliamentary system.
In a post in Hindi on X, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said: “After the political and moral shock in the elections, Modi ji and the BJP are pretending to respect the Constitution, but the truth is that the three laws of the criminal justice system which are being implemented from today, were passed forcibly after suspension of 146MPs.” “INDIA will no longer allow this ‘bulldozer justice’ to prevail in the parliamentary system,” he asserted.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh also took a swipe at the government after the first FIR was lodged under the new laws. “The first FIR has already been filed under Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita 2023.
It is by Delhi Police against a street vendor for obstruction, after he was earning his daily livelihood under a foot-over bridge of New Delhi Railway Station, “Ramesh said. Delhi Police registered its first FIR under provisions of the new criminal code the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita against a street vendor selling water and tobacco products from a cart that allegedly obstructed a public way in central Delhi’s Kamala Market area on Monday, officials said.
Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram also slammed the government as the new criminal laws came into effect and said it was another case of “bulldozing” existing laws and replacing them with three new bills without adequate discussion and debate.
In a post on X, Chidambaram said: “90-99 per cent of the so-called new laws are a cut, copy and paste job. A task that could have been completed with a few amendments to the existing three laws has been turned into a wasteful exercise.”
“Yes, there are a few improvements in the new laws and we have welcomed them. They could have been introduced as amendments.
On the other hand, there are several retrograde provisions. Some changes are prima facie unconstitutional,” he said. MPs, who were members of the standing committee, pored over the provisions and wrote detailed dissent notes to the three Bills, the senior leader said. Chidambaram added the government did not rebut or answer any of the criticisms in the dissent notes and there was no worthwhile debate in Parliament. “Law scholars, bar associations, judges and lawyers have in numerous articles and seminars pointed out the grave deficiencies in the three new laws. No one in government has cared to answer the questions,” he said. Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said the Congress’ concern was that the bills were passed without discussion.
“Something as important and as far reaching as this. Many of us had called for an overhaul of the IPC but we wanted a discussion and the discussion never took place and that is something very regrettable in a democracy like ours,” he told reporters outside Parliament.