Parliament panel adopts reports on criminal laws

The Parliamentary Committee on Home Affairs, chaired by BJP member Brij Lal, met on Monday, nearly 10 days after members had sought additional time to study the draft reports circulated late last month.

PTI, New Delhi, Nov 6, 2023 : A parliamentary committee on home affairs on Monday adopted three reports on bills to replace the existing criminal laws with some opposition members submitting dissent notes, sources said. It will meet on Monday to adopt draft reports, days after some opposition members had sought an extension for the panel to go through the measures in greater detail.

The Parliamentary Committee on Home Affairs, chaired by BJP member Brij Lal, met on Monday, nearly 10 days after members had sought additional time to study the draft reports circulated late last month.

Parliamentary sources said some opposition members had already submitted their dissent notes to the reports on the three bills to replace the Indian Penal Code (IPC), The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 and the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 with Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, respectively.

Some more opposition members were expected to submit dissent notes in the next two days as per rules, sources said.

On October 27, the standing committee on Home could not adopt the three draft reports as some opposition members pressed for more time to study it.

Some opposition members had urged panel chairperson Brij Lal to seek an extension of three months in its tenure and "stop bulldozing these bills for short-term electoral gain".

For making a robust legislation that serves the marginalised, the committee should not adopt a final report in the next few days or in November. "We will be mocking the process of legislative scrutiny if we do so," an opposition MP had said in a communication, according to opposition sources.

However, BJP sources said the committee has engaged in an extensive consultation process and will meet its deadline of three months.

The committee will now meet on November 6, according to a notice sent to members for adopting the three drafts.

Sources said the panel may adopt the draft reports despite protests by some of its members from the opposition parties.

Seeking a complete overhaul of colonial-era criminal laws, Home Minister Amit Shah had introduced in Lok Sabha during the Monsoon session three bills to replace the Indian Penal Code (IPC), The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 and the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 with Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, respectively.

The House later sent the bills after their introduction on August 11 to the committee for scrutiny and asked it to submit its report within three months.

Sources have said that the committee is likely to recommend a raft of amendments in the three bills but will be sticking to their Hindi names, something fiercely contested by opposition MPs, including from the DMK. They have demanded English names for the proposed laws as well.

Shad had described the current set of laws guiding the criminal jurisprudence as a colonial legacy, a reference to their British Raj provenance, and asserted that they focussed on punishment  while the proposed laws give primacy to justice. The 30-member committee is headedby BJP MP BrijLal. 

The committee has recommended taking a more stringent view of deaths caused by negligence amid criticism that the current statute is too lenient, the sources said. The committee has also proposed a reduction in sentence for those convicted of deterring public servant from discharging their duties. The sources said the Section 353 of the Indian Penal Code provides for a maximum of two years of prison term and the committee may seek to slash it to one year. 

The law is often used against those staging protests and many members of the committee are of the view that common protesters should be dealt with leniently. It has been reported that the committee has backed a gender-neutral adultery law and punitive measures for non-consensual sex between men, women and transgender people among other recommendations.