Three new criminal laws – the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 and the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 – came into effect on Monday.
The laws have replaced the Indian Penal Code, 1860, the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 and the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. Provisions under these laws will continue to apply to offences committed before Monday.
Union home minister Amit Shah said that the three new laws have imparted an “Indian ethos” to the country’s criminal justice system.
“Instead of punishment, there will now be justice,” Shah said. “Instead of delays, there will now be speedy trials and speedy justice. Earlier, only the rights of the police were protected. Now, the rights of victims and complainants will also be protected.”
Shah denied that the laws had been passed without adequate discussions in Parliament.
“It is also being falsely said that the Bills were brought in after [Opposition] members were suspended,” he said. “The Bills were already listed before the Business Advisory Committee. Perhaps the Opposition didn’t want to participate in the debates at all.”
The new laws have been implemented despite experts, rights groups and state governments expressing concerns and calling for them to be reviewed.
On Sunday, Union Minister of Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal, however, said that the three laws were introduced after consultation and “were necessary given the developments in technology and forensic science”, reported ANI.
Experts have pointed out that the laws increase the state's power to collect personal data and seize property. The laws also make it more difficult to secure bail and file first information reports, they said.
Punishments for crimes such as lynching, endangering national security and terrorism have been made more stringent.
The Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita allows police to detain a person for up to 90 days. Under the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, this period was limited to 15 days. The extended pre-trial detention for ordinary offences has drawn objections, with human rights activists saying that the law will be used to curtail personal liberties.
A week before the implementation, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin had written to the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government at the Centre to defer the laws.
Karnataka had also submitted an 88-page report to the Centre, raising concerns over key provisions like allowing the police 14 days to conduct a preliminary investigation before registering an FIR and the exclusion of Indian Penal Code Section 377, which is invoked in cases of sexual abuse against men, reported The Indian Express.
On June 27, the Bar Council of India said that several bar associations across the country have sought to hold indefinite protests unless the new laws were suspended.
The Bar Council of West Bengal has said that it would observe July 1 as “Black Day” calling the three new criminal laws anti-people, undemocratic and likely to cause great hardships to citizens.
The Bar Council of India has, however, urged the lawyers to refrain from protesting against the implementation of three new laws.
On June 21, a group of 109 former civil servants also urged the Union government to defer the implementation of the new criminal laws and ensure that they are reviewed at an all-party meeting.
The three laws were passed in the Winter Session of Parliament on December 21 in the absence of several Opposition MPs. A hundred Opposition MPs in the Lower House, besides 46 in the Upper House, were suspended during the Winter Session for disrupting the proceedings as they sought a discussion on the December 13 security breach in the Lok Sabha chamber.
While introducing the three new bills in Parliament in August, Amit Shah had said that they would “end three colonial laws” currently governing India’s criminal justice framework and provide criminal laws “by Indians, for Indians”.
On Monday, former Union law minister and Senior Advocate Ashwini Kumar said that the introduction and implementation of the new law were rushed through by the government, “which is not desirable in a democracy," reported ANI.
“It was not adequately discussed in the parliamentary committees and there was no extensive discussion about these bills in the house,” Kumar said.
Also read: Are India’s police prepared to enforce the new criminal laws on July 1?
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