NEW Delhi: India’s government moved three bills in the lower house of parliament aimed at overhauling some colonial-era criminal laws, ranging from the controversial sedition law to strengthening laws that protect women and minors.
On the last day of the monsoon session of the parliament, Federal Home Minister Amit Shah presented bills to repeal and replace the Indian Penal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure, and the Indian Evidence Act, many implemented by the British before the country’s independence in 1947.
The new legislation “will aim to give justice, not punishment,” said Shah, adding that the overhaul was imperative as the colonial laws have been at the core of the criminal justice system for over a century. The bills will be sent to a parliamentary standing committee for deliberations before passage.
The ‘Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Bill, 2023’ which will repeal and replace the more than 160-year-old Indian Penal Code (IPC), will contain new numbers for some of the most commonly used sections of the Code — section numbers that have long been part of dialogues in films, aspects of popular culture, and the language of common people.
For example, “Section 302” for murder, “Section 420” for fraud, or “Section 376” for rape — sections of the IPC that are invoked for these offences. These sections will be numbered differently under the BNS, the proposed successor to the IPC.
Some legal experts said the bills, if approved by Parliament, may create disruptions and add complexity to the legal process as courts will have to figure out procedural implications and positions on tens of thousands of existing trials.
Those in favour of the changes said they enable fresh discussions on the need to reform several laws protecting females and minors and also add a layer of transparency to criminal codes.
The bill seeks to replace the colonial-era sedition law mainly used against Indian political leaders seeking independence from British rule.
The law has frequently been used since 1947 as a tool of suppression by successive democratically-elected governments to intimidate people who protest against authority.
The proposed bill seeks to replace it with a section on acts seen as endangering the sovereignty, unity, and integrity of India.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has scrapped scores of obscure laws in recent years to modernize the legal system and free India from its colonial past.
