NEW DELHI: On July 1, 2024, Bharat has seen a metamorphosis in its criminal laws by shedding its colonial baggage.
Though the country is raring to march on the path of glory, naysayers continued to rankle with their usual complaints.
Prominent among such voices is of senior advocate and former Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, who called the news criminal laws Bhartiya Nagrik Suraksha Samhita, Bhartiya Nyaya Samhita, and Bhartiya Sakshya Adhiniyam as wasteful exercise.
"The three criminal laws to replace the IPC, CrPC and Indian Evidence Act come into force today. 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," he said.
However, on the contrary, he himself admitted some improvements have been brought with the new laws.
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"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. MPs who were members of the Standing Committee have poured over the provisions and written detailed dissent notes to the three Bills. The government did not rebut or answer any of the criticisms in the dissent notes. There was no worthwhile debate in Parliament," he wrote on X platform.
"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 added.
Chidambaram complained that it is another case of bulldozing three existing laws and replace them with three new Bills without adequate discussion and debate.
"The initial impact will be to throw the administration of criminal justice into disarray. In the medium term, numerous challenges to the laws will be instituted in various Courts. In the long term, further changes must be made to the three laws to bring them in conformity with the Constitution and the modern principles of criminal jurisprudence," he felt.
It is noteworthy here to any changes brought about in any law is open to challenge before the constitutional courts. But with the passage of time, changes are quintessential for a society and a country to sustain in the long run.
The question is how long Bharat should have carried on with the laws passed by the Britishers to rule and government them. Some day, one government has to take this initiative to usher in change. We must welcome them as Union Law Minister Amit Shah, who piloted these laws in Parliament, said it would take three four years for all the laws and upgrades to be fully implemented.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi has earlier said there was a need for the laws to reflect both Indian ethos and contemporary practices.
“The convergence of Indian values and modernity is equally essential in our legal statutes. The government is actively working on modernising laws to align with the present situation and best practices,” he said.
The three new amended criminal laws, named as the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, the Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 have been passed by Parliament in December, 2023.
The President’s assent was granted after Lok Sabha cleared the three bills on December 20 and Rajya Sabha on December 21, 2023.
The Ministry of Law and Justice on December 25, 2023 notified the three Acts in gazette. The three codes have come into effect from July 1, 2024.
Speaking in a programme on 'India's Progressive Path in the Administration of Criminal Justice System', Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud had in April, this year, said the enactment of the new criminal justice laws is a watershed moment for society as the country is set for a significant overhaul of its criminal justice system.
These new laws have transitioned India's legal framework on criminal justice into a new age. The much-needed improvements have been introduced to protect the interests of victims and carry out investigation and prosecution of offences efficiently, he said.
"India is set for a significant overhaul of its criminal justice system with the upcoming implementation of three new criminal laws. These laws signify a watershed moment for our society because no law affects the day-to-day conduct of our society like the criminal law," he had said.
