Three new criminal Bills passed by Parliament get President's assent
Dec 25, 2023
New Delhi [India], December 25 : President Droupadi Murmu on Monday gave assent to the three new criminal justice bills passed by Parliament last week during the winter session.
The Rajya Sabha on December 21 passed the three criminal bills--the Bharatiya Nyaya (Second) Sanhita, 2023; the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha (Second) Sanhita, 2023; and the Bharatiya Sakshya (Second) Bill, 2023--replacing the IPC, the CrPC and the Evidence Act. The bills were earlier passed by the Lok Sabha.
Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita will have 358 sections (instead of 511 sections in the IPC). A total of 20 new crimes have been added to the bill, and the imprisonment sentence has been increased for 33 of them.
The amount of the fine has been increased in 83 crimes and mandatory minimum punishment has been introduced in 23 crimes. The penalty of community service has been introduced for six crimes and 19 sections have been repealed or removed from the bill.
Giving prominence to crimes against women and children, murder and crimes against the nation, these three bills were passed by voice vote.
YSRCP, BJD, TDP, AIADMK, TMC (M), and UPP (L) leaders took part in the debate supporting the three bills, with many of them giving suggestions for holding English titles for them along with Hindi.
However, the majority of the opposition members did not attend the debate on Wednesday, when the three bills were passed in the Lok Sabha.
The bills were first introduced during the Monsoon session of Parliament in August. After the Standing Committee on Home Affairs made several recommendations, the government decided to withdraw the bills and introduced their redrafted versions last week.
Hailing the passage of the Bills, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had said it was the "beginning of a new era" and the legislations were aimed at making time-bound justice delivery to Indians by protecting their human rights.
