INDIA’S new criminal laws “signify a watershed moment for our society” and “have transitioned India’s legal framework on criminal justice into the new age”. The certification has not come from a member of the Narendra Modi Government or the ruling party that seeks a fresh mandate in the ongoing elections. It forms part of the remarks made by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud in his inaugural address at a recent conference.
Significantly, when PM Modi had described the passage of the three landmark laws replacing the colonial-era Indian Penal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure Code and the Indian Evidence Act during the last session of Parliament as a “watershed moment for India”, the Opposition had derided him and accused him of dealing a death-blow to the ‘rule of law’. The CJI’s endorsement should silence it for ever.
It is significant to recall here the words of freedom fighter and Constituent Assembly member K Hanumanthaiah during discussions on the framework of the Indian Constitution, on November 17, 1949. “We hoped for the sweet melodies of veena or sitar, but what we got was the sound of an English band,” he had said referring to “colonial continuity” in the post-Independence India. Over time, many systems embraced a more Indian identity, but unfortunately, the criminal justice system held on to the laws that the British used against Indians.
That there was a need for an overhaul the country’s criminal justice system was underlined by successive parliamentary standing committees reports (111th, 128th and the 146th, published in 2010). They suggested changes through comprehensive legislation rather than making small changes to the existing Acts. Yet, no previous Government took an interest in shedding the shackles of the colonial past as the hangover of colonial continuity gave them comfort.
However, as the architects of ‘Naya Bharat’, the Government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi took it upon itself to replace the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), and the Indian Evidence Act with the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam.
Comprehensively, we can say that this change in the criminal justice system of India ushers in a new era. An era free from the colonial IPC, which was drafted by a man called Thomas Babington Macaulay, who, in 1835, had condescendingly written that a single shelf of a good European library was worth the whole native literature of India and Arabia. The landmark laws revamping India’s criminal justice system signify a courageous move to silence the sound of the ‘English band’ and replacing it with the sounds of veena and sitar. The evolving legal landscape not only seeks to address current issues but also lays the foundation for a more inclusive, efficient, and fair criminal justice system in India. As CJI Chandrachud pointed out, “while we make strides in this direction, we must now confront the challenges of fulfilling the aims of the new criminal legislations.”
Confident of winning the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, the Modi Government has already notified that the three new criminal laws will come into effect from July 1 this year. The Prime Minister has asked the Government officials to prepare a roadmap for their implementation by the time his government assumes charge after the elections.
