Editorial 1: The new Bills to overhaul criminal laws
Context
- The Centre on August 11 introduced three new Bills in the Lok Sabha that propose a complete overhaul of the country’s criminal justice system.
About
- The Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860 is set to be replaced by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.
- The Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), 1973 will be replaced by the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 whereas
- the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, will be replaced by the Bharatiya Sakshya Bill, 2023.
- From 1860 to 2023, the country’s criminal justice system functioned as per the laws made by the British.
- With these three laws there will be a major change in the criminal justice system in the country.
The Repeal
- Home Minister Amit Shah said in the Lok Sabha that the new Bill on IPC repeals the offence of sedition under Section 124A of the IPC.
- However, it has been replaced by another section targeting speech, writing or any form of communication that incites separatist and subversive activities.
- Part VII of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Bill is titled ‘Of Offences against the State’, under which Section 150 criminalises ‘acts endangering sovereignty unity and integrity of India.’
- The main difference between the existing offence of sedition and the proposed section is that there is no reference now to “disaffection against the government”, or bringing it under hatred and contempt.
- While the punishment under Section 124A is either life imprisonment or three years in jail, Section 150 enhances the alternative punishment to seven years.
Key highlights of the Bills- The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Bill,
- The punishment for all types of gang rape will now include 20 years of imprisonment or life imprisonment.
- The punishment for the rape of a minor will include imposition of the death penalty. Various offences have also been made gender neutral.
- Notably, for the first time capital punishment has been introduced for the offence of mob lynching apart from the offence being made punishable with seven years of imprisonment or life imprisonment.
- The Bill also criminalises sexual intercourse under the false pretext of marriage or by deceitful means.
- This is a notable change since IPC does not have an explicit clause dealing with instances of sexual intercourse based on a false promise of marriage.
- The provision for the offence of adultery has also been omitted. This is in line with the Supreme Court’s ruling in 2018 in the case of Joseph Shine versus Union of India, where Section 497 of the IPC, which criminalised adultery, was held to be unconstitutional.
- Similarly, pursuant to the Supreme Court’s unanimous reading down of Section 377 of the IPC as far as it criminalised same-sex relations between consenting adults in Navtej Singh Johar versus Union of India (2018), the proposed legislation does not include any punishment for ‘unnatural sexual offences against men.’
- The provision legalising marital rape has however been retained.
Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita Bill
- A formal provision (Section 230) has been introduced to ensure that a copy of the FIR is made available to the accused and the victim free of cost and within fourteen days from the date of production or appearance of the accused
- Other changes to expedite the procedure include the facility for an accused person to be examined through electronic means, like video conferencing.
- Summary trials have been made mandatory for petty and less serious cases. The magisterial system has also been streamlined.
Bharatiya Sakshya Bill
- The Bill highlights that the Indian Evidence Act has been repealed because it fails to ‘address the technological advancement undergone in the country during the last few decades.’
- The Bill permits the admissibility of an electronic or digital record as evidence and will have legal validity as documentary evidence.
- The ambit of what constitutes secondary evidence has also been expanded.
Conclusion
- After the committee sends in its recommendation, the government will decide whether to incorporate them, and which specific recommendations to incorporate.
- If there are not many recommendations to be incorporated, the government simply introduces changes to original bills through amendments.
- If a significant portion of an original bill is being changed, the government might withdraw the bill and introduce a new, modified bill.
- After the bills, in their final form, are back in the Lok Sabha, they will be up for debate.
- The government will need to muster a simple majority in order to pass the bills.
- After the Lok Sabha, the bills will go to the Rajya Sabha where they will again be debated and put to a vote.
Editorial 2: India, a marvel that continues to endure
Introduction
- Our nation, a mosaic of religious, ethnic, linguistic and cultural plurality, celebrates its modern rebirth today. This journey has been filled with love and hate, pain and joy, and highs and lows. And yet we march on. Our tryst with destiny continues.
The East is awakening
- In 1947, the western world gave only a little chance for India to survive as a democracy.
- What the West failed to realise then was a reawakening of a civilisation with a cultural history that dates back millennia.
- In the 21st century, as western civilisations decline, an epoch is fading. And in its place the civilisations of the east, finally unshackled from the chains of bondage, are awakening.
- The journey of modern India has not been without its ebbs and flows. What the West considered our Achilles heel, i.e., our diversity, has proven to be India’s greatest strength.
- South and west India became the manufacturing hubs of the country, the east its resource repository, and the north its bread basket.
- The founding fathers of our republic had the foresight to establish a constitutional scheme which harnessed the power of our diversity.
- Secularism, federalism, universal franchise, and the freedom of speech and religion created a spirit of fairness and justice that accommodated our linguistic, regional, religious divides under the rule of law.
- Consequently, India engineered the green and white revolutions. We reached the stars and split the atom. We fought wars for moral reasons. Our Constitution continues to endure.
Hurdles to overcome
- There have been stumbles along the way.
- Communal majoritarianism has reared its ugly head time and again. We continue to pay the toll for our original sin — the caste system and its poisonous inequities.
- While great strides have been made since Independence to achieve political, social and economic freedom, true social and economic equality eludes us.
- Extreme poverty and a social marginalisation of minorities persist.
- The potential of the daughters of India remains trapped in the absence of a gender-equal society.
- The north-east remains distant from our hearts and minds and must be integrated to the mainland in spirit.
- Attempts to homogenise the Indian identity are gaining ground.
- But the faith in our ability as a people to overcome these challenges remains steadfast, because at our core we are a just, spiritual and peace-loving people. We are the children of Buddha and Ashoka, Ambedkar and Gandhi, Thiruvalluvar and Periyar.
Way forward
- Democracy and freedom require constant vigil. If and when state power becomes tyrannical, every Indian must possess the courage and will to rise.
- The Indian polity must always imbibe its national consciousness and spirit with equality, justice and fairness towards each other.
- Today, as technological advancements usher in knowledge democratisation, we can finally fulfil Bapu’s dream of achieving Village Swaraj.
- Imagine the day when every village is self-sustaining, state institutions and infrastructure are capable of unleashing the potential of our demographic dividend, and Indian culture dominates the global zeitgeist.
Conclusion
- We dream of an India where no child is born in poverty or goes to sleep hungry and whose universities such as Nalanda are the intellectual centres of the world again. We dream of an India whose cultural, spiritual and economic prowess reignites a race from the West to reach its shores.
