On 20th and 21st December 2023, the Parliament enacted three new laws, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, (BNS), Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, (BNSS) and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam. These Codes replace the Indian Penal Code (IPC) of 1860, the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), 1973, and the Indian Evidence Act of 1872, respectively. The government has lauded this overhauling of the criminal justice system as a historic one in which a modern and scientific investigative orientation is joined by a citizen-centric and “Bharatiya” justice system. The government’s claims of introducing a citizen-centric law via the BNS is not held up as a close study of some of the selected offences and punishments demonstrate how they coercively affect the constitutionally protected fundamental rights of the people.
PUDR’s short report, Fettering Civil Rights: A Critique of Selected Offences and Punishments in The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 examines three aspects of the BNS: one, how an erosion of democratic norms related to legislative conduct was carried out in the name of ‘enactment’ in the Parliament. Second, via a study of selected provisions in the BNS, the report shows how they infringe on the legitimate exercise of the Fundamental freedoms. Finally, the report comments on the harsher penalties in the BNS which are contrary to the spirit of a rehabilitative criminal justice system.
Joseph Mathai and Paramjeet Singh
(Secretaries, PUDR)
To down load the report click below
Fettering-People’s-Rights.pdf
