Highlights Of Bills Replacing IPC, CrPC & Evidence Act As Stated By Union Home Minister

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday introduced three Bills in the Lok Sabha to repeal the British-era Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Indian Evidence Act (IEA), and the Code of Criminal Procedure (Cr.PC). The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Bill, 2023, which replaces the IPC, prescribes capital punishment as the maximum sentence for mob lynching and suggests 10-year imprisonment for sexual intercourse with women on the false promise of marriage. The Bill, however, states that “sexual intercourse by a man with his own wife, the wife not being under 18 years of age, is not rape”. Mr. Shah said the section on sedition has been repealed. “The Bill for the first time defines terrorism and offences such as separatism, armed rebellion against the government, challenging the sovereignty of the country, which were earlier mentioned under different provisions of law,” he said. The Bill proposes 313 amendments that will bring revolutionary changes to the criminal justice system, Mr. Shah said. He introduced the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) Bill, 2023; Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) Bill, 2023; and Bharatiya Sakshya (BS) Bill, 2023, which will replace the IPC, 1860; Criminal Procedure Act, 1898; and the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, respectively. Mr. Shah said the changes were done to provide speedy justice and create a legal system that addresses the contemporary needs of the people. He requested that the Bills be sent to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs. The Home Minister said absconding criminals such as underworld don Dawood Ibrahim will be tried in absentia by the court and will be sentenced too. 

In cases of sexual violence against women, the video-recording of statements of survivors has been made compulsory, Mr. Shah said. “Marrying or making sexual relations with a woman by deception, by giving wrong credentials has been brought in as a separate category of crime,” the Home Minister said. He said the police have to inform about the status of a complaint in 90 days. If a case punishable by seven years or more is to be withdrawn, then before doing so, the police must consult the victim. Community service is being introduced for specific crimes. He said videography of search and seizure is being made compulsory and a chargesheet won’t be accepted without it. “The conviction rate is presently low, we aim to take it to 90%, forensic collection of evidence compulsory in all crimes punishable by seven years,” Mr. Shah said. He added that a police officer will be designated in each police station who will certify to the relatives of an accused that she/he is in police custody. Though terrorism has for the first time been defined as a separate offence in the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) Bill, 2023, the other special law that deals with terrorist acts — the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) — will remain in practice, a senior government official said. The new Bill that seeks to repeal the Indian Penal Code, 1860, will have no bearing on other special laws such as the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), 1999, and Acts governing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), among others, the official added. A new provision on mob lynching has been included for murder on the basis of race, caste, community, etc., for which punishment shall be a minimum of seven years of imprisonment or life imprisonment or death penalty.