Union Home Minister Amit Shah presented three bills to reform the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Code of Criminal Procedure and Indian Evidence Act in the Lok Sabha and proposed to send these to the Standing Committee of the Parliament which was finally passed by the House.
While presenting the three bills, the Union Minister said that these have been in force in the country since the British era.
He further said that the Central government’s aim is to ensure justice, and not punishment.
He said, the laws which are being repealed are the laws of that period when they were made to protect and strengthen the British Rule. The idea of those laws was to punish, not to give justice.
Amit Shah said that from now, all the three new laws will protect Indian civil rights. The government will be able to clamp down on fugitives like Dawood Ibrahim, Nirav Modi, Vijay Mallya, etc.
He further said that Dawood Ibrahim is wanted in many cases and so far, there have been no trials on him as he has fled the country. The government has decided that whoever is declared a fugitive by the sessions court will be tried in absentia as per the prescribed procedure and will be sentenced wherever he may be hiding in the world. This is going to make a big difference in Indian jurisprudence. If he has to appeal against the sentence, then he will have to come under the shelter of Indian laws. He, while introducing the Indian Judicial Code, the Indian Civil Defence Code and the Indian Evidence Bill in the Lok Sabha, proposed to send all the three Bills to the Standing Committee of Parliament so that they could be discussed properly. This proposal was passed by the house.
Amit Shah said, on August 15, the Prime Minister had taken 5 vows in front of the country from the ramparts of the Red Fort. One of them was a vow that we would end all traces of slavery. The three bills, that we have brought today, will fulfil one of the vows taken by Modi ji. After sending these bills to the parliamentary committee, questions have also started arising in the minds of the people whether there will be provision of death penalty for mob lynching and rape of a minor.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah also said that 533 sections will end with the enactment of new laws. 133 new sections have been added. While Section 9 has been changed.
According to the bill introduced in the Lok Sabha, a total of 313 changes have been made through the new laws. A complete change has been made in the criminal justice system by the government. Forensic teams will reach the site of crime to collect evidence in sections where the punishment is more than 7 years. According to the new laws, the punishment for treason has been changed.
The name of sedition has been removed in the new bill. The provisions under section 150 have been retained with some modifications. In the proposed section 150, the punishment for sedition could be imprisonment from three years to life.
Key points of three bills
Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday introduced three bills in Lok Sabha to replace the Indian Penal Code, Criminal Procedure Code and the Indian Evidence Act, asserting the proposed laws will transform the country’s criminal justice system and bring the spirit to protect the rights of citizen at the centre stage.
Introducing the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) Bill, 2023; Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) Bill, 2023; and Bharatiya Sakshya Bill, 2023, he said the changes were made to provide speedy justice and for creating a legal system on par with contemporary needs and aspirations of the people.
Here are the major points mentioned by the home minister in his speech in the Lok Sabha:
• The aim of the laws is not to punish, but to provide justice. Punishment will be given to create a sentiment of stopping crime.
• The Whole procedure, right from filing an FIR to case diary, charge sheet and getting judgment will be digitized.
• Forensic sciences will be in focus. A visit by a forensic team to a crime scene will be mandatory if the crime entails a punishment of seven years or more.
• Three mobile forensic science Laboratories will be present in every district.
• The aim is to take the conviction rate up to 90 per cent.
• All courts in the country will be computerised by 2027.
• For the first time, filing e-FIRs will be possible.
• A zero FIR of an incident can be registered in any police station. The complaint will be sent to the police station concerned within 15 days.
• Every district will have a police official who will give a certificate to the family of those arrested that they are responsible for the arrested person. Information will have to be provided both online, and personally.
• In case of incidents of sexual violence, the statement of the victim and video recording will be compulsory.
• Police will have to provide a status update on a case within 90 days.
• No government will be able to withdraw a case entailing punishment of seven years imprisonment or more without hearing the victim. This will protect citizen’s rights.
• Community service is being introduced as a punishment for the first time.
• To stop delays in cases, changes have been made. For cases entailing less than three years of imprisonment, a summary trial will be enough. This will reduce cases in session courts by 40 per cent.
• Charge sheets will have to be filed within 90 days. A court can extend it for another 90 days. A probe will have to be finished in 180 days and should be sent for trial.
• After trial, judgment will have to be given in 30 days. It will have to be uploaded online within a week.
• For filing complaints against civil servants, authorities concerned will have to give or deny permission within 120 days. If a response is not received, it will be deemed to be a yes.
• A provision has been added for compensation through the properties of a declared criminal.
• Provision has been made stricter for punishment in case of organized crime and international gangs.
• Sexual exploitation of women on the pretext of marriage, job, promotions or by hiding identity will be considered a crime.
• For gang rape, there is a provision for punishment of 20 years imprisonment or life in jail.
• Provision for death sentence for raping minors.
• For mob lynching, there will be provisions for seven years of imprisonment, life imprisonment and death sentence.
• A new provision has been added for snatching.
• Crime against children will entail a 10-year jail term as punishment. Penalties have also been increased.
• To stop political use of punishment waivers by governments, a new provision has been made that death sentences can only be converted to life imprisonment and life imprisonment can be pardoned only within seven years of punishment. This is to ensure those with political influence do not escape the law.
• Sedition law will be completely repealed. “This is democracy, everyone has the right to speak,” Shah said.
• Previously, there was no definition of terrorism. For the first time, terrorism is being defined.
• Trial to be allowed without criminals if he or she has been declared absconding. It would make trials of criminals like Dawood Ibrahim possible.
• Vehicles don’t have to be kept till the end of the case once videography is done.
• There will be an overhaul of the criminal justice system and everyone will get justice in a maximum of three years.
