Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal on Saturday termed the new criminal bills passed by Parliament in the recently concluded winter session are revolutionary and transformative and have a sense of indigenousness.
“Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, these three bills are very important. These 3 new bills that have been passed have an Indianness. These bills are revolutionary and transformative,” the union minister said while speaking to ANI.
The Rajya Sabha on Thursday 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 The penalty of community service has been introduced for six crimes and 19 sections have been repealed or removed from the bill.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.
