Congress demands larger debate on three Bills to replace criminal laws

The Opposition Congress, on August 13, demanded a larger public debate on the Bills — Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagrik Surkasha Sanhita and Bharatiya Sakshya Bill — introduced in Parliament to replace the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and the Indian Evidence Act, respectively.

Centre seeks to overhaul British-era criminal laws

All India Congress Committee general secretary and MP Randeep Singh Surjewala said in a statement that while the Bills have been referred to the Select Committee of Parliament, the Bills and their provisions must be thrown open for a larger public debate by judges, lawyers, jurists, criminologists, reformers, stakeholders and the general public “in order to stay away from the trap of bulldozing the entire criminal law structure without discussion”. “We hope that better sense will prevail,” he said.

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Mr. Surjewala said the Narendra Modi Government took out three Bills from its “black magic hat” without any discussions to restructure the entire criminal law apparatus in a clandestine, hidden and opaque manner.

“The introductory remarks of Home Minister Amit Shah himself gave away the fact that he himself is ‘out of depth’, ignorant and oblivious to the entire exercise. Other than some credit seeking and point scoring in desperation, a hidden exercise, away from the public glare or stakeholders’ suggestions and wisdom, cannot serve the public purpose of reforming the criminal law structure of the country,” he said.

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He said several claims of Mr. Shah — such as the zero FIR being introduced for the first time — do not match reality. “HM lied and misled the House by stating that concept of ‘zero FIR’ (FIRs irrespective of territorial jurisdiction) was being launched for the first time. The same has been the brainchild of the Congress-UPA and made effective vide MHA Order dated May 10, 2013,” he added.

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Mr. Surjewala added that there were factual errors in the claims made by Mr. Shah on the punishment for crimes against women. “Mr. Shah claimed this a major overhaul qua crimes against women,” he said and added that Section 376D of the IPC was amended by the Congress-UPA Government in 2013 to provide for punishment up to 20 years in cases of gang rape.

“The Home Minister lied again as gang rape was already punishable with 20 years or life imprisonment vide Criminal Law Amendment Act, 2013, (recommended by Justice Verma Committee),” he said.

“The repackaging of IPC, CrPC and Evidence Act has been done in most unprofessional manner as Home Minister, completely unaware of the provisions of the Bills, mislead the House,” Mr. Surjewala alleged.