New Delhi:

As the new criminal code, Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita, came into force today, the first FIR was filed against a street vendor for obstructing a road near the New Delhi Railway Station. The FIR was filed under Section 285 of the new criminal code that states, “Whoever, by doing any act, or by omitting to take order with any property in his possession or under his charge, causes danger, obstruction or injury to any person in any public way or public line of navigation, shall be punished with fine which may extend to five thousand rupees.”

The FIR was filed after a police personnel on patrol duty last night spotted the street vendor selling water bottles and gutkha on the road. His makeshift stall had obstructed the road and he was repeatedly asked to move it. When he did not, the police personnel moved to register an FIR.

The copy of the FIR, which is with NDTV, states that the street vendor had parked his stall near under a foot over bridge near New Delhi Railway Station late last night. “The man was selling water, bidi and cigarettes on the street and the obstruction was causing difficulty for the public. The sub-inspector asked the man several times to remove the stall from the road, but he did not comply. The sub-inspector asked several passers-by to join the probe, but they refused. Then the sub-inspector shot a video using the e-praman application,” the FIR says.

The man has been identified as Pankaj Kumar from Patna in Bihar.

Three new criminal codes — Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam — have come into force today. They will replace the colonial-era Indian Penal Code, Indian Evidence Act and the Code of Criminal Procedure.

The criminal codes have been changed with an objective of ensuring speedy justice and to tackle new kinds of crime. Judgments are now required within 45 days of completion of trial and charges must be framed within 60 days of first hearing.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah has said the change was made to ensure “speedy justice and justice to all”. The Opposition parties, including the Congress, say the decision to implement the new criminal laws has been taken in haste.

New Delhi:
India’s criminal justice system will undergo a complete overhaul today with three fresh criminal codes replacing the full set of British-era laws, including the Indian Penal Code.

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Panchkula (Haryana):

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday said that the three laws of the British-era that were governing the Indian Judicial system have been changed on the concept of delivering speedy justice.

Mr Shah was speaking at the MoU signing event between the Haryana government and the National Forensic Science University (NFSU), Gandhinagar in Panchkula to build a centre of excellence in the state.

In his address, Amit Shah said that, in association with NFSU, work has been done to give a scientific base to the criminal justice system of Haryana today.

“Three laws of the British era were governing the Indian judicial system, they have been changed with the concept of speedy justice and justice to all. As a part of these changes, forensic team visits have now been made mandatory for offences carrying a sentence of seven years or more. This will increase the demand for forensic experts across the country, which the NFSU will cater to,” Mr Shah said.

“Human resources have to be created to implement these new criminal laws. It was with this approach that the National Forensic Science University was taken forward and at the same time the framing of these new laws were also underway,” he added.

The Home Minister further mentioned that so far, campuses of this university have been opened in 9 states and work will be done to take this university to 16 states across the country.

“This would create trained manpower and help in speeding up the pace of solving crimes and improving the conviction rate,” Amit Shah said.

He said that this will not only result in trained human resources but will also be of great benefit in getting the new laws implemented at the grassroots level.

The Union Home Minister asserted that having a laboratory, university and training institute at the same campus itself will greatly simplify both the instructor and the trainee.

“If a training institute is planned to be opened here, then the Government of India will provide good arrangements for training in forensic science at its own expense. The Forensic Science University not only works to educate children and prepare trained manpower but also helps in strengthening the forensic infrastructure,” Mr Shah added.

“This will help Police Sub Inspectors (PSIs), Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSPs) and Superintendent of Police (SPs) level officers and judges of Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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A Vacation Bench of the Supreme Court allowed the petitioner to withdraw his plea, saying the petitioner narrowly escaped imposition of costs for filing “cavalier, casual” petition.
| Photo Credit: Sushil Kumar Verma

The Supreme court on Monday dismissed a petition challenging the three criminal laws — the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and the Bharatiya Sakshya Act.

A Vacation Bench of Justices Bela M. Trivedi and Justice Pankaj Mithal allowed petitioner-advocate Vishal Tiwari to withdraw, saying he narrowly escaped imposition of costs for filing the petition.

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“Your petition was filed in a casual, cavalier manner,” Justice Mithal told Mr. Tiwari.

“You have decided to withdraw. If you had argued more, we would have imposed costs on you… The petition is dismissed as withdrawn,” Justice Trivedi said.

Justice Trivedi noted the new Acts have not come into force so far.

The petition claimed the new laws, meant to replace the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and the Evidence Act, suffered from “defects and discrepancies”.

The Lok Sabha had passed the Bharatiya Nyaya (Second) Sanhita, the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha (Second) Sanhita and the Bharatiya Sakshya (Second) Bills on December 21 last year.

President Droupadi Murmu gave her assent to the Bills on December 25.

The petition said the Bills were passed without parliamentary debate as most of the Opposition members were under suspension.

The plea had sought directions from the court for the immediate constitution of an expert committee to assess the viability of the three new criminal laws.

The three criminal laws to be effective from July 1.

“The new criminal laws are far more draconian and establish a police state in reality and violate every provision of fundamental rights of the people of India. If the British laws were considered colonial and draconian, then the Indian laws stand now far more draconian as, in the British period, you could keep a person in police custody for a maximum of 15 days. Extending 15 days to 90 days and more is a shocking provision enabling police torture,” the plea has said.

The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita encompasses offences, such as acts of secession, armed rebellion, subversive activities, separatist activities or endangering the sovereignty or unity of the country, in a new avatar of the sedition law.

According to the new laws, anyone purposely or knowingly, by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, by visible representation, by electronic communication, by use of financial means, or otherwise, excites or attempts to excite secession or an armed rebellion or subversive activities, or encourages feelings of separatist activities or endangers the sovereignty or unity and integrity of India or indulges in or commits any such act shall be punished with imprisonment for life or with imprisonment that may extend to seven years and shall also be liable to fine.

According to Section 124A of the IPC, which deals with sedition, anyone involved in the crime may be punished with life imprisonment or with a three-year jail term. Under the new laws, “Rajdroh” has got a new term, “Deshdroh”, doing away with the reference to the British crown.

“Rajdroh” refers to a rebellion or an act against the ruler, while “Deshdroh” represents such acts against the nation.

Also, for the first time, the word “terrorism” has been defined in the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. It was absent in the IPC. Under the new laws, a magistrate’s power to impose fines was increased as well as the scope for declaration of proclaimed offender.

New Delhi:

Opposition MPs in the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs have questioned the “haste” in adopting the draft reports on the three bills to replace the IPC, CrPC and the Evidence Act, as a meeting has been called later this week for the purpose.

The committee, which is examining the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and the Bharatiya Sakshya Bills, has informed its members through a notice that the draft reports will be adopted on October 27.

According to sources, at least two opposition MPs have written to the panel’s chairperson raising concerns about the process of scrutiny of the bills and have also urged him to postpone the meeting.

Questioning the “haste”, both the MPs have said that they did not get enough time to go through the three reports which were sent to them only on the late evening of October 21.

Members of the panel who belong to parties of the opposition INDIA bloc are set to submit dissent notes against adopting the reports. In the 30-member panel, the BJP has 16 members.

Opposition MPs, who have in the past raised questions over the experts being called for examination, have questioned the short notice for calling the meeting even as a number of experts suggested by them are yet to be called.

One of the opposition MPs, in his letter to the panel chairperson, pointed at an “alarming lack” of consultation with stakeholders and shared a list of experts that had been suggested by them for examination.

Former Chief Justice of India U U Lalit, retired Supreme Court judge Justice Madan B Lokur, eminent jurist Fali Nariman, Senior Advocate Rebecca John and Advocate Menaka Guruswamy are among the names included in the list.

Requesting postponement of the panel’s meeting, another opposition MP pointed out that the draft report was sent in the middle of festivals even though the next Parliament session is at least four weeks away.

TMC MPs in the panel have, meanwhile, raised concern over the meeting being called a day before Lakshmi Puja which is celebrated in Bengal a few days after Durga Puja.

“It shows that the BJP does not understand anything about the culture of Bengal,” said a TMC MP, who is a part of the parliamentary panel.

Raising concern about the bills, an opposition MP alleged that these proposed laws which are meant to replace the colonial-era procedural laws are “even more colonial”.

The 30-member Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs has 16 BJP MPs including the chairperson, four of the Congress, two each of DMK, TMC, JD(U) and BJD, and one of the Shiv Sena.

It was given three months to examine the three bills and submit its report after Home Minister Amit Shah had requested the Lok Sabha chair to refer the bills to the panel for threadbare examination. In the 11 meetings held so far, the panel took the views of various experts, including the Law Commission.

The IPC and the Evidence Act are colonial-era procedural laws that form the backbone of Indian criminal jurisprudence along with CrPC.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)