Lok Sabha passes 3 amended criminal law Bills

The Bharatiya Nyaya (Second) Sanhita, 2023 bill, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha (Second) Sanhita, 2023 and Bharatiya Sakshya (Second) Bill (BSB) 2023 have been passed in the Lok Sabha. Amit Shah said the new bills lay "emphasis on Indianness, the Indian Constitution and the well-being of the people". 

The Lok Sabha on Wednesday passed three revised criminal law bills, namely, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, which proposes to replace the Indian Penal Code, the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita to replace the Code of Criminal Procedure, and the Bharatiya Sakshya Sanhita which seeks to replace the Indian Evidence Act. It was passed by the Lower House in the absence of 97 MPs, who were suspended this week. 

While speaking during the winter session of Parliament on Wednesday, the Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Lok Sabha said that the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, which will replace the Indian Penal Code (IPC), focuses on justice rather than punishment.  He said, "I have not only read every line of proposed criminal laws, but I have gone through every comma, full stop and held 158 meetings." 

He said the existing criminal laws – Indian Penal Code (IPC), Indian Evidence Act and the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) - were reflective of the colonial mindset with the intention to punish and not impart justice. Shah added that the three proposed criminal laws will free people from the colonial mindset and its symbols. 

Insisting that the new laws will replace the colonial era Indian Penal Code, Amit Shah said the new bills lay "emphasis on Indianness, the Indian Constitution and the well-being of the people". 

"The three news bills seek to establish a justice system based on Indian thinking... Three proposed criminal laws will free people from colonial mindset and its symbols," Shah said.

Home Minister Amit Shah elucidates on the features of the redrafted criminal bill. "Now the accused will get seven days to file a plea for acquittal...The judge has to hold the hearing in those seven days and in a maximum time of 120 days, the case would come to trial," he added.

The bills were initially introduced in the Lok Sabha during the Monsoon Session of Parliament but were later withdrawn. Amit Shah reintroduced the revised bills in the Lok Sabha last week.