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According to the government, over the last four years, the Ministry of Home Affairs has put in significant efforts in preparation and consultation before the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) Bill — which will replace the Indian Penal Code of 1860 — was introduced in Lok Sabha on Friday.
The reforms were discussed with Governors, Lieutenant-Governors and Chief Ministers in 2019; in 2020, the opinions of the Chief Justice of India, Chief Justices of all High Courts, Bar Councils, and law universities were brought in, and letters were sent to Members of Parliament and IPS officers in 2021. The BNS Bill, according to the government, has been a long time in the making.
“We have received suggestions from the 18 States, six Union Territories, from the Supreme Court of India, 16 High Courts, five Judicial academies, 22 law universities, 142 MPs, 270 MLAs and members of the public regarding these new laws. The Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD) received responses from all the IPS officers, state and central forces. For four years, these were discussed in depth,” Union Home Minister Amit Shah said.
An official in the MHA said that a committee was set up under the chairmanship of the Vice Chancellor of National Law University, Delhi to prepare the new law. Shah held around 58 formal and 100 informal review meetings during the process.
This is not the first time reforms to India’s criminal justice system have been suggested. Prior to this, the Law Commission of India had recommended many amendments in its various reports.
“Committees like the Bezbaruah Committee, Viswanathan Committee, Malimath Committee, Madhav Menon Committee had also recommended reforms. So had the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs in its 111th report in 2005, 128th report in 2006, and 146th report in 2010. But no action was taken by anyone,” an MHA official said. It was only in 2019 that work on the reform process was actually started, the official said.
“In 2019, Prime Minister Modi told us that all laws made during British rule should be discussed and reviewed, keeping in mind present times and in the interest of Indian society,” Shah said.
“Today, we have brought three new laws by abolishing the Indian Penal Code, 1860, Criminal Procedure Code, (1898), 1973 and the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 made by the British and passed by the British Parliament,” he said.
The Home Minister emphasised that the soul of these three new laws will be to protect citizens’ rights given by the Constitution. “The objective will not be to punish anyone but to give justice and in this process punishment will be given where it is required to create a sense of prevention of crime,” he stressed.
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