Plea in SC against the newly amended criminal law bills

The petitioner has urged the top court to issue a notice seeking specific directions to immediately constitute an expert committee on this to assess, and identify the viability of the three new amended criminal laws named as the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023 with the aim to overhaul the criminal laws of the country and abolish, Indian Penal Code 1860, Code of Criminal Procedure and Indian Evidence Act, 1872.

The petition has sought to stay the operation and implementation of three new criminal laws Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023, Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita 2023 and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023.

The PIL has been filed by two persons Anjali Patel and Chhaya through advocates Sanjeev Malhotra and Kunwar Siddhartha.

According to the plea, the proposed Bills suffer from many defects and discrepancies. "The above-proposed Bills were withdrawn and new Bills were produced with some changes, these were passed by the Parliament on 21st December 2023 and were published in Gazette Notification on 25th December 2023 and all of them have now assumed the position of an Act," the plea said.

"Because for the first time at such a level changes are been made in criminal laws. It is said that the old colonial law has been changed. The main symbol of colonial rule is the police system which has continued since British times. It needs reforms to be carried out and implemented," the petition read.

"Because The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita retains most offences from the Indian Penal Code, 1860. It adds community service as a form of punishment. Sedition is no longer an offence. Instead, there is a new offence for acts endangering the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India. The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita adds terrorism as an offence. It is defined as an act that intends to threaten the unity, integrity, and security of the country, intimidate the general public or disturb public order. Organised crime has been added as an offence. It includes crimes such as kidnapping, extortion and cyber-crime committed on behalf of a crime syndicate. Petty organised crime is also an offence now. Murder by a group of five or more persons on grounds of certain identity markers such as caste, language or personal belief will be an offence with a penalty of seven years to life imprisonment or death," the plea said.

The plea also said the new laws allow up to 15 days of police custody, which can be authorised in parts during the initial 40 or 60 days of the 60 or 90 days period of judicial custody may lead to denial of bail for the entire period if the police have not exhausted the 15 days custody.

There remains irregularity in the passing of Bills in the Parliament as many members of Parliament were suspended with very less people participating in the passing of the Bills, such action has led to no debate on the elements of the Bills with no challenges, the petition said. (ANI)