The Supreme Court on Monday (May 20) refused to entertain plea seeking directions for constituting an expert committee to examine, assess, identify the viability of the three new criminal laws including Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023.
New criminal laws
The three new criminal laws were passed in the Parliament on December 21 last year and President Droupadi Murmu gave her assent on December 25. The three laws, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023, will come into effect from July 1, 2024.
The laws will replace the colonial-era Indian Penal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Indian Evidence Act of 1872 respectively. The three legislations aim at completely overhauling the criminal justice system in the country by giving definitions of various offences and their punishments.
CJI on three new criminal laws
Earlier on April 20 this year, Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud highlighted that the enactment of the new criminal laws is an indicator that “India is changing” and is “on the move”. He stressed that their enactment have “transitioned India's legal framework on criminal justice into the new age”.
The CJI was referring to Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023; the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023; and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023, which will replace the earlier criminal laws, namely, the Indian Penal Code 1860, the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 and the Indian Evidence Act, 1872. The new ones will come into effect from July 1 this year.
"India is set for a significant overhaul of its criminal justice system with the upcoming implementation of three new criminal laws. The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam will replace the Indian Penal Code 1860, the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973 and the Indian Evidence Act 1872, respectively. These laws signify a watershed moment for our society because no law affects the day-to-day conduct of our society like the criminal law," he had said while addressing a conference on India's Criminal Justice System organised by the Ministry of Law and Justice.
"Our laws and their implementation are an ever-evolving area. There is no finality to any law or the manner of its implementation. However, we must be willing to embrace positive changes to meet the needs of our times. I expect that with the implementation of the new criminal laws, we will discover loopholes and areas that need to be addressed. Such debates would be helpful in enhancing the efficiency of our criminal justice systems. However, the ideological framework at the heart of our analysis must be justice-oriented with a civil liberty-centric approach that balances the interests of the victim and the accused,” he added.
(With inputs from agencies)
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