The Tamil Nadu government on Monday ordered a committee to be set up to study the new criminal laws and recommend state-level amendments to it, reported The Hindu.
The three new criminal laws – the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 and the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 – came into effect from July 1.
They 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 July 1.
The new laws have been implemented despite experts, rights groups and state governments expressing concerns and calling for them to be reviewed.
In June, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin had also written to the Union Home Minister Amit Shah requesting him to defer the new laws until the state’s concerns were addressed.
On Monday, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government in the southern state decided to appoint a one-man committee under retired Madras High Court judge K Sathyanarayanan.
The committee will examine the change in nomenclature of the new laws and submit its recommendations to the state government, The Hindu reported.
Tamil Nadu has objected to the names of the new laws being in Sanskrit “which is not the tongue of the common people, who will have to use these Acts to get justice”, The Indian Express quoted an unidentified senior official of the state’s Law Department as saying.
The state government believes that “there are some errors in certain basic sections”, another official of the law department told the newspaper.
The committee will also consult various stakeholders, including lawyers, to recommend amendments. It will submit its report in one month.
“They [Centre] have implemented new criminal laws without hearing the views of the states and holding debates in Parliament, which has led to several protests across the country,” Stalin said in a post on X on Monday. “The DMK and the Tamil Nadu government continue to oppose this.”
Stalin invited residents of the state to suggest amendments to the committee.
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