Revised bills to replace IPC, CrPC tabled in LS

Expanded definitions of a terrorist act, to include that which causes monetary instability, and of cruelty to women, to include mental cruelty, and a punishment for publishing, without permission, details of court proceedings concerning rape cases are among the changes in the Bharatiya Nyaya (Second) Sanhita, 2023, a redraft of a key criminal law introduced by Union home minister Amit Shah on Tuesday in the Lok Sabha along with new versions of two other criminal laws based on changes recommended by a parliamentary standing committee.

- Neeraj Chauhan

In the Lok Sabha, Congress floor leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury asked the government to refer the three bills to a joint select committee but Shah refused, pointing out that the bills have already been reviewed by the parliamentary standing committee on home affairs.

Shah said, "A number of recommendations of the committee have been accepted. The MPs will get 12 hours to debate the bill from Thursday."

The three criminal law bills, which were first introduced by the government in August, were referred in the same month to the parliamentary standingmittee on home affairs for review. Shah had on Monday withdrew the original bills to reintroduce their modified versions.