LS clears bills to replace British-era crime codes

Union home minister Amit Shah on Wednesday said the government’s vision was to have a criminal code that provided “justice” rather than “punishment” as the Lok Sabha passed the three crucial bills — Bharatiya Nyaya (Second) Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha (Second) Sanhita, and Bharatiya Saksha (Second) Bill — that will replace a raft of British-era laws after a day-long discussion in the Lower House.

- Prawesh Lama

 

The discussion saw the participation from 16 MPs. Out of these, none were from the Opposition INDIA collective, which has boycotted proceedings after a record 97 Lok Sabha members have been suspended for the rest of the winter session. The three bills were passed by voice vote at around 4.45pm.

Later, the Opposition INDIA allies decided to challenge the three legislation in the Supreme Court, after discussing the bills during a meeting of their floor leaders at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence on Wednesday evening.

“The objective of the IPC (Indian Penal Code) was to punish and not deliver justice. All the three laws, which are over 150 years old were made by the British to rule over us. Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided to remove all such remnants of the colonial era,” Shah said during his 97-minute reply to the discussions.

“From the Red Fort, PM Modi had said that we need to free ourselves from the colonial laws. The new laws have been framed keeping in mind three basic principles — civil liberty of citizens, human rights and equality. Some are unable to visualise this. The current laws have no scope for justice — punishment is seen as justice,” he added.

The Bharatiya Nyaya (Second) Sanhita will replace the Indian Penal Code, the Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha (Second) Sanhita the Code of Criminal Procedure, and Bharatiya Saksha (Second) Bill the Evidence Act, 1872.

IPC, which deals with a majority of criminal offences, was brought by the British in 1860. It was adopted by the Indian government after Independence and has been amended around 77 times, but there were calls from some quarters for revamping the entire criminal justice system as it was considered obsolete and a colonial legacy.