Govt of India Introduces Three Bills to Replace Indian Penal Code, Criminal Procedure Code and Indian Evidence Act

On August 11, the Government of India introduced three Bills in the Lok Sabha to repeal and replace the legislation – the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and the Indian Evidence Act (IEA). The Union Home Minister Amit Shah introduced the three Bills – Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and Bharatiya Sakshya Bill.

Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023: The Bill has been introduced to repeal and replace the existing IPC to streamline the provisions related to offences and penalties. The salient features of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, as per the ‘Statement of Objects and Reasons’ in the Bill, are as follows:

• The Bill introduces community service as one of the punishments for petty offences.
• The offences against women and children, murder and offences against the State have been given precedence.
• Various offences have been made gender-neutral.
• In order to effectively deal with organised crime and terror activities, new offences have been introduced in the Bill with deterrent punishments.
• The Bill introduces new offences on acts of secession, armed rebellion, subversive activities, separatist activities or endangering the sovereignty or unity and integrity of India.
• The Bill enhances fines and punishments for various offences.

Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023: The Bill has been introduced to repeal and replace the existing CrPC. The salient features of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, as per the ‘Statement of Objects and Reasons’ in the Bill, are as follows:

• The Bill provides for the use of technology and forensic sciences to investigate crimes.
• The Bill provides for furnishing or lodging information, service of summons, etc. through electronic communication.
• The Bill prescribes specific timelines for time-bound investigation, trial and pronouncement of judgements.
• The Bill adopts a ‘citizen-centric approach’ to supply a copy of the First Information Report (FIR) to the victim and to inform them about the investigation’s progress, including through digital means.
• The Bill provides that in cases where the punishment is seven years or more, the victim would be given an opportunity to be heard before the government withdraws the case.
• The Bill provides for the examination of accused persons through electronic means, including video conferencing.
• The Bill also streamlines the magisterial system.

Bharatiya Sakshya Bill, 2023: The Bill has been introduced to repeal and replace the existing IEA to consolidate and provide general rules and principles of evidence for a fair trial. The salient features of the Bharatiya Sakshya Bill, as per the ‘Statement of Objects and Reasons’ in the Bill, are as follows:

• The Bill provides that ‘evidence’ includes information given electronically; thus, the Bill allows the witnesses, accused, experts and victims can appear through electronic means.
• The Bill provides for the admissibility of electronic or digital records as evidence and that such electronic and digital records have the same legal effect, validity and enforceability as paper records.
• The Bill seeks to expand the scope of secondary evidence to include copies made from original documents through mechanical processes, copies made from or compared with the original document, counterparts of documents as against the parties who did not execute them and oral accounts of the contents of a document given by some person who has himself seen it and giving matching hash # value of original record will be admissible as proof of evidence in the form of secondary evidence.
• The Bill further seeks to put limits on the facts with are admissible and its certification as such in the courts.
• The Bill introduces more precise and uniform rules of practice for courts in dealing with facts and circumstances of the case by means of evidence.

In March 2020, the Government of India constituted a Criminal Law Reforms Committee to make suggestions to revise the IPC, CrPC and the IEA. The committee was headed by the then-Vice Chancellor (VC) of the National Law University (NLU), Delhi, Professor Dr Ranbir Singh, then-Registrar of NLU Delhi, Professor Dr GS Bajpai, the VC of NLU Jabalpur, Professor Dr Balraj Chauhan, Senior Advocate Mahesh Jethmalani and former District & Sessions Judge, Delhi, GP Thareja.

In February 2022, the committee submitted its report to the Government of India after taking suggestions from the public. In April 2022, the Union Law Ministry informed the Rajya Sabha that the Government of India has undertaken a process of comprehensive review of criminal laws.