THE OVERHAUL OF INDIAN CRIMINAL LAWS

THE OVERHAUL OF INDIAN CRIMINAL LAWS 

Author:- Shraddha Vemula, a Student of Symbiosis Law School, Hyderabad

The union government on Friday moved three bills in Lok Sabha, that seek to substitute the legal provisions of the three Prime Indian Criminal Laws – The Indian Penal Code, The Code of Criminal Procedure, and The Indian Evidence Act with The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), The Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and the Bharatiya Sakshya respectively. Despite the various changes by way of amendments and judicial decisions, the laws proved to be somewhat incongruous. The existing laws belonged to the colonial era and they were punishment oriented. These new bills were brought in with the aim of reforming the criminal justice system, as quoted by the Union Home Minister, who presented the bills. The laws will focus on providing justice and reforming the accused. A thorough assessment of each of these Bills and the legislation they aim to replace has been put together by Project 39A at the National Law University. The Bills have the power to influence how criminal law is practiced in the future. Testing their viability, effectiveness, loyalty to the rule of law, and ability to provide justice therefore becomes crucial. On one hand, they make crimes like terrorism, corruption, mob lynching, and organized crime punishable. They permit citizens to file a police complaint at any police station, regardless of where the crime was committed. They suggest videotaping searches and seizures and using more forensics and technological evidence during the investigation. As a brand-new type of punishment, they establish community service. They support holding trials without the accused in order to provide justice more quickly. On the other, Experts remind out that the legislation misses several important details. Despite India having strict laws to prevent sexual violence against women, marital rape is not a crime. Sedition and obscenity are examples of crimes that criminalize speech, and they should be re-examined. The naming of these laws in Hindi did not go well with the political parties in the South, given the lingual diversity of the country. The range of secondary evidence is intended to be expanded to include copies created from the source material by technological means as proof of evidence, giving electronic evidence the same legal weight as papers. If passed by Parliament, the proposals, according to some legal experts, may cause delays and increase complexity in the legal system as courts must determine the procedural ramifications and judgments of a multitude of ongoing cases.  The bills were created with the intention of bringing about a paradigm shift to guarantee swift justice, integrity of the evidence for greater conviction, and shorter incarceration times. A parliamentary standing committee has been tasked with additional consideration of the measures, and it is possible that the report will be presented during the winter session of Parliament. The Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) makes revisions to 175 existing laws, repeals 22 IPC provisions, and adds nine new sections. There are 356 provisions in all.

 The Bharatiya Sakshya Bill (BSB) replaces five of the Evidence Act's current provisions, suggests amending 23 others, and adds one new provision. There are 170 sections altogether. The proposed law allows for electronic appearances by witnesses, defendants, experts, and victims. The Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) proposes revisions to 107 CrPC provisions, repeals nine of them, and adds nine new ones. There are 533 sections in all in the law.