Of Law, Justice and People
The Winter Session 2023 of the 17th Lok Sabha witnessed the passage of, arguably, the three most significant post-Constitution legislations, namely, Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS), Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS) and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023. Government of India released a gazette notification dated 24th February 2024 stating that the New Criminal Codes replacing the IPC, the CrPC and the Indian Evidence Act would come into force from 1st July 2024. In the aftermath of the enactment, PUDR in January 2024 had released a report, Fettering People’s Rights, examining the select provisions of the BNS from a civil liberties perspective.
PUDR is subsequently bringing out an updated version of the report- OF LAW, JUSTICE AND PEOPLE: An Analysis of Selected Provisions in the New Criminal Codes, 2023- which extends its analysis to selected provisions in the BNSS and tracks the developments building to the enforcement of the Codes.
Through a review of the selected provisions, the report argues that:
1. Provisions in the BNS infringe on the legitimate exercise of the Fundamental Rights.
2. These provisions create a regime of harsher penalties
3. The same provisions when read with the adjacent provisions in the BNSS, create a
pro-prison system which is detrimental to the spirit of a rehabilitative criminal justice
system.
4. This new justice system which is being presented as victim-centric, builds a stringent
carceral system in India in which ‘jail’ is likely to replace ‘justice’.
