A significant step to dispel colonial legacy

Three new bills aim to replace British-era codes that govern India. But Parliament must take care to excise the bad provisions while not diluting the good aspects

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Many years ago, I met a scholar from Pakistan and was amused to find that 420 held the same connotation in Pakistan as in India. Thanks to films, television serials and even literature, sections such as 302 and 420 in the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and 144 in the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) became part of everyday usage.

We will have to get used to new nomenclature, just as we get used to the renumbering of national highways or the renaming of cities. But the three bills Bharatiya Sakshya Sanhita (BSS), Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) - are more substantive than mere tokenism, nomenclature tweaks, or getting rid of colonial legacies (references to Her Majesty's government and so on).

For those uncomfortable with Indian words, these respectively refer to the Indian Evidence Act (1872), Indian Penal Code (1860) and Criminal Procedure Code (1973). The vintage suggests the need for change. 

CrPC may seem relatively recent, but the 1973 version was only a modification of the 1898 statute. More than 47 million cases are pending in Indian courts, more, if one includes quasi-judicial forums. Roughly, two-thirds are criminal cases. The function of criminal justice is to protect the innocent and punish the guilty. If innocent people are punished, that's one kind of error. If the guilty are not punished, then that's another kind.

Statisticians refer to these as Type I and Type II errors and a standard problem is that one can't reduce both kinds of errors simultaneously. The Indian situation is worse. Moving beyond the innocent, there are undertrials, accused of petty crimes.